Packers Unscripted: Back at it

Packers Unscripted: Back at it

[Music] Hi everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers.com. I am Mike Spaford joined as always by the one and only Wes Hodkawitz. We’re coming to you here from our studios at Lamblefield to talk Packers football coming off of the by-week during which of course the Packers 21 and one record did not change. West. But when the players returned from their break to the practice field on Monday, there was a big change and that was wide receiver Christian Watson was on the practice field. The fourth year receiver, nine months and one day removed from his ACL injury against the Chicago Bears last January practicing in the 2025 season for the first time. We don’t know exactly when he will be put on the 53man roster, when he will be ready to play a game. All of that is TBD, but a big step forward for Christian Watson. Yeah, man. And it’s uh wonderful cuz it’s like it really does feel like it’s been the worst kept secret at Lambeau Field that we are that close to Christian Watson being back in regular practice action. And listen, I mean, it was really interesting listening to him talk in his locker on Monday because he he mentioned it was a great question by Rob Dowski. a lot of the stuff they did in Monday’s practice, which was really just like more of a run through type practice. You know, Christian said he’s been doing some of that stuff for 2 months now. But it’s different when you get out in that setting with your teammates. And we’ve been watching him all spring. We watched him all summer. I mean, this guy is sprinting. This guy’s hitting top speeds and now he can put it back towards football. But I’ll be honest with you, man, the thing I was most impressed by, 274 days since he tore his ACL, and I understand he’s a genetic freak. I understand he works really hard at it. He said from the day that he got hurt, the day that the rehab started. He worked every single day uh to get back. There’s a reason why Green Bay extended him, they saw that work. They saw what he was doing to get back for this football team. He consulted Stfan Diggs. I mean, this guy left no stone unturned in the process and it’s brought him to this point. It will be extra credit if we see him on the field in October, but realistically, the goal was to get him back for the second half and it looks like the Packers are getting a pretty darn good version of Christian Watson at that. Yeah, and I think uh hopefully the fans are able to exercise some level of patience here because at whatever point Christian Watson is activated uh to play in a game, you have to understand he’s not going to go out there and play 50ome snaps in his very first game back. I mean, there’s going to be a ramp up period here, you know, and I’m not going to try to predict what snap counts there might be, how many weeks that might be, whatever the case, but I’m I’m totally with you in that this has felt from the beginning because the injury happened in the regular season finale last year that it’s like, okay, if you get Christian Watson back for the second half of the 2025 season, that’s what you’re aiming for. If he’s actually back on the field before the Packers get to the halfway point, that feels like just a a bonus that could potentially just have him all the more ready to help this team down the stretch for what is hopefully going to be a playoff push where this offense maybe starts to peak, as they say. Yeah, you you know this the guy is supremely talented. We we’ve all watched it. He’s a big playmaker, but it was fun just seeing I mean this is a leader. uh he may not have one of the C’s on his chest right now, but this is one of the guys that the locker room follows and just watching the jubilation around them, just seeing guys interacting with his media scrum, uh Malik Heath, uh Nate Hobbs, uh Bo Melton when they were walking in together, I mean, everybody had a pretty good laugh about it because they’ve seen obviously the work that he’s done, but also what Christian means to that football team. This is a guy that has carried himself. I mean, there’s a reason why Michael, as we’ve said before, I mean, he won the standup guy award for the Packers from the Packers media corps, uh, in his second year. I mean, that type of stuff doesn’t happen. I mean, this is the type of dude that that gets out in front of it, wins, losses, or as we learned two weeks ago, a tie. Uh, he’s always accountable. Yeah. And people respect that. Now, the exciting part about it is you saw a guy like Matthew Golden flash in Dallas. You’re seeing Romeo Dobs right now at the peak of his powers. So, I mean, this guy’s playing his best football that he’s ever played in Green Bay right now. Adding a receiver like Christian Watson back into the mix. It stinks not to have Jaden Reed here for, you know, an indefinite period of time. But when we were talking all off season, you’re not going to keep everybody healthy. If you can get a little bit of a jolt, a little bit of a surge with a guy like Watson in the second half, it is it’s like that. It’s almost like that trading deadline type of acquisition, what he could add to this football team during a stretch run. Absolutely. Well, the rest of the injury update from the uh return to practice. Two starting offensive linemen, Zack Tom, Aaron Banks, who have both missed really, I would say, the bulk of the last three games um for the Packers. Both of those guys were back on the practice field. Now, the big test for them will be Wednesday because with the Packers coming off the bye-week, Wednesday this week will be the full pads practice. And when we get the injury report after Wednesday’s practice, which will be the first official injury report of the week, um that will be a telltale sign in terms of where Zack Tom and Aaron Banks are. Nate Hobbs was also back on the practice field. He exited the Dallas game to be evaluated for a concussion. So, the fact that he was back on the practice field, whatever the evaluation was, um and whatever his situation is, the fact that he was back at practice was certainly a good sign. two guys who were not back at practice. Defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt, rookie offensive lineman Anthony Belton, Wyatt with a knee injury, Belton with an ankle, and we don’t really know the extent of where things are with those. What we do know about Wyatt is that Matt Lafleur said he’s weak to weak and the fact that and obviously things could always change, but the fact that the Packers have not put Wyatt on IR for that minimum four games down um I take that as a good sign that uh that this really very well could be just a week- toeek thing and uh and we may see them you know back out there soon enough. So good to see on balance the Packers are getting healthier. Obviously, there’s a long stretch here. 13 regular season games and then hopefully beyond without any kind of a break other than kind of the mini buy that will happen after the Thanksgiving game in Detroit when you get a weekend off after playing on a short week. This is going to be a long haul and uh uh the Packers want to you obviously want to be as as healthy as you can be at any time, but if this by-week helped to get some guys healthy then uh as early as it was, then hopefully it was worth it. Well, and you hope too that there were some guys that were able to take a little bit of a breather because of that buy. When you think about them being pretty cautious with Aaron Banks in particular, you know, dealing with the groin injury and having one earlier that was somewhat different. Packers want to get these guys out there and not just for a game, but for the season. Yeah. And while you know I Zach was Zack Tom was talking to I think Jason Wy in the locker room on Monday and mentioned I mean there’s probably going to be some pain tolerance involved with this. this isn’t something that he’s necessarily just going to quote unquote heal up from, but it’s learning how to manage it and how to use his body to get through this because the Packers need him, man. And again, one of the questions that came up in insider inbox was, you know, if you looked at it on balance, who who’s more important for this Packers team right now? Is it Zack Tom or is it Dvonte White? And again, that’s a difficult question cuz you’re talking about two of the top 10, top 12 guys on this entire roster. Sure. But when you look at where Zach went down with the oblique against Washington, there was a there’s a turning point there for the offense and you give credit to guys for stepping up. But the problem was it wasn’t just one guy that moved into that spot. It was Anthony Belton got hurt. Darien Kard was in and out. I mean, there’s just so many dominoes that happened there. Yeah. In addition to the fact that Zach’s one of the very best at what he does at that position. So, more than anything, people ask, “What do you want to see? Cleaned up penalties, uh, health, all this.” I just want to see the pre preferred starting five. Yeah. For the offensive line or at least what it’s going to be throughout the rest of the season. Once you get that in place, I feel like that shores up the run game. It shores up some of the penalties on the offensive line. Hopefully, it allows the Packers to to really be as explosive as we thought they could be. They showed signs of it. They don’t tie that game in Dallas if not for the offense performing the way that it did, right? But can you do it now against a team and we’ll preview it on Thursday, but a team again like the Cincinnati Bengals who are really up against it right now. Yeah, that’s where Green Bay needs to start asserting itself. Yeah, this is a struggling Cincinnati Bengals team as you said. We’ll dive into more of the details about the Bengals on our next show later this week. But the big question right now hovering in Cincinnati is Zack Taylor, the head coach, going to make a change at quarterback? Uh Jake Browning has been the replacement for the injured Joe Burrow. But since taking over for Joe Burrow, Jake Browning has thrown eight interceptions, including three of them against the Detroit Lions this past Sunday when the Bengals playing at home fell into a huge hole. They got some points late in the game in the fourth quarter, but you know, at some point you you wonder, you know, had the Lions figured they had this game wrapped up, right, because they had such a big lead. So, what does Zack Taylor decide to do? I think the the the rock and a hard place that he’s in is that you look at his other options. Cincinnati’s other options at quarterback. You have Brett Ripen on the active roster. You have Mike White and the former Packers Shawn Clifford on the practice squad. The problem for Zack Taylor is all three of those other options did not arrive in Cincinnati until the end of training camp or later. Yeah. So, if you’re going to make a change and move on from Browning and give somebody else a shot, it’s not quite the Malik Willis situation last year that the Packers are in, but it’s awfully close where somebody kind of just got there and is just learning the offense and kind of getting their feet under them in Zack Taylor system and then you’re going to throw them out there against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. It’s a tough spot for Zack Taylor to be in. He says he’s going to announce on Wednesday when the Bengals begin their practice week uh to get ready to come to Green Bay. He’s going to make the quarterback announcement then. But um he doesn’t have a lot of good options right now. No. And and I think the prudent move, if I’m being completely honest with you, would be to stick with Browning because he’s I think so, too. But he’s been there for years. I mean, this is this isn’t just like, okay, well, they signed a guy in the offseason, they went they threw him out there, and he’s not doing Jake Browning has been the number two to Joe Burrow in all of these situations when Burrow’s been injured, right? I look at that entire offense right now as being in flux. They’ve had a lot of injuries on the offensive line. Former Packer Lucas Patrick has been on injured reserve with an injury. I mean, they they they signed Daltton Risner at the start of the season. Uh Chase Brown right now is averaging two and a half yards per carry. You saw those statistics through the first two or three weeks of the season where he had negative yards rushing before contact. And it wasn’t just by like one, it was like by 50. That entire offense outside of the receiver position has been in flux. And the other thing I would say too is that with all due respect to Brett Ripen, Brett Ripen, when he came into Green Bay two years ago, it didn’t go very well for No, it he did not look good and that was not the same Packers defense then that he would be facing this time. I mean, it was one of the more dominant victories in the the Matt Laflur era. So, uh, Browning’s the guy that you committed yourself to. So, it it would be somewhat quizzical to me if they decide to make that switch. Now, we’ll see what happens. But to your other point, Mike White and Shawn Clifford both got there after the the injury to Burrow. So, in that regard, it really does come down to is it Browning, is it Ripen? And if it is that guy, can you protect him? Yeah. And Ripen didn’t show up until the last week of August from what I understand. So, um, all right. Well, I do want to take kind of a big picture overview look at where things are in the NFC North and across the league, but we’ll pay some bills first and hear from our sponsors. SiriusXM NFL radio delivers hard-hitting analysis and up totheminute NFL news that true football fanatics need 24/7, 365. 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. 50 plus years of better. Pit Boss Grills. The official grill of Packers Tailgating at Lambo or at your house. Take your game day to the next level with a Pit Boss wood pellet grill. Pit Boss Grills available at Menards. Hey Packers fans, we always knew Lambo Field was a wonder, but now it’s official. Learn more about all the wonders of Wisconsin at travel Wisconsin.com/wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. All right, West NFC North. Detroit Lions 4-1, Green Bay Packers 21-1, Minnesota Vikings 3-2, Chicago Bears 2-2. Packers and Bears both had their buy in week five, but here we are. Everybody in the division has played either four or five games, and nobody in the division is below 500. So, here we here we go again. uh as they say. For those wondering who’s in second place, the Packers at 21-1 and one and the Minnesota Vikings at 3-2. Minnesota’s winning percentage is 600. The Packers winning percentage is 625. So officially, the Packers are in second place for those who care about such things. But uh um hey, as we’ve been talking about for the last few weeks now, the Detroit Lions aren’t going anywhere. The Packers got a big win over Detroit. It’s the Packers only division game so far, so it was a big one to get and the Packers got it. But the Lions are back on top. And quite frankly, these these last four games with the Lions chalking up four straight victories, they’ve looked pretty darn good in doing so. And it’s not just that the Lions are back on top offensively. They’re back to doing what they do best, right? I mean, they are running the football down team’s throats. Jared Goff is throwing off of that in Amanra St. Brown is getting those 10-yard catches to extend first downs. They have a very vivid blueprint for how they win football games and they’re very good at doing it. Y when you look at the consistency and the teams that have been the perennial front runners right now in the NFC, it’s Detroit and it’s Philadelphia and it’s because of their consistency. They know their identity. They play to that identity and they’ve had success with it. Now, all that being said, I mean, they they’ve had very winnable matchups. Now, to Green Bay’s point, they also played the Cleveland Browns. They also could have beaten the Cleveland Browns, although they did not get the benefit of having them at Lambeau Field, but they laid the smackdown. The Detroit did over the Bears. They go and beat a Baltimore Ravens team now that obviously doesn’t have Lamar Jackson, but is struggling all around. Yes, the the precipitous fall here of their defense played into that game against the Lions. Mercy. And then the Cincinnati Bengals. I don’t I couldn’t honestly tell you everything that happened in the fourth quarter or why the Bengals made that thing closer than it was. It seemed like they had some sustained drives. I didn’t watch it. There was one one of the touchdowns was a big like 60 yard touchdown pass to Jamar Chase where somehow even though the Lions were up by multiple scores, they let Chase get behind them and so they they hit a big touchdown there. They did have a couple of other sustained drives, but the Lions I think had built like a 28-3 lead or something like that. 3724 does not represent what that game. No, it absolutely does not. It was a route. Um, so all that being said, the point I want to raise here about Detroit, and it goes back to what I said after the Packers beat them, that was a pivotal win. It was a pivotal win in the NFC North. It was a pivotal win in this conference, cuz I don’t think the Lions are going away as far as trying to secure that number one seed again after everything that happened last year. And for them now, I mean, you look at the schedule that they have coming up. Kansas City at Kansas City, but the Chiefs are reeling. Tampa Bay is going to be a tough one. Then they get their buy. And then they got Minnesota, Washington, and Philadelphia. I mean, the Lions took care of business, and if they can get through this upcoming stretch on the winning side of this these next three, four games, I mean, they’re going to be a team to to really be feared here in the second half. Well, in a nonpackers weekend of football, it was uh it was quite the interesting week five in the NFL because you had the Philadelphia Eagles and the Buffalo Bills both take their first loss of the season and both lost at home. The Eagles Lot of losses at home this week. Yeah, the Eagles blowing a a 14-point fourth quarter lead at home to the Denver Broncos and uh the Buffalo Bills losing to a division rival in the New England Patriots in prime time. Um Buffalo losing a home prime time game is not something I thought we’d be talking about here um on the show. The other the other thing when you look at week five in the NFL, so the Panthers, the Saints, the Broncos, as I mentioned, the Titans, and the Commanders all erased double-digit deficits to come back and post victories. Five teams coming back from double-digit deficits in one weekend uh in one Sunday of of NFL football. Um, it was uh and heck and you and then this whole week started with a banged up San Francisco 49ers team knocking off a division rival in the LA Rams on Thursday Night Football. Um, so uh just just a really interesting week, but a week that is it it’s typical of the NFL because there is no such thing as a typical week in the NFL. That’s how this league goes. Yeah, the the week- toeek nature of it is just beyond uh compare. Uh it is so difficult to stretch wins together. It is so difficult to uh impose your will and not be one of those teams that ends up, you know, dropping a an LA Chargers loss to the Giants that seems to have kind of gotten in the Chargers head a little bit in addition to some injuries uh that they’re dealing with particularly in the background or the back field. But the one thing I thought about as I was going through these games and I was obviously watching the the Thursday night game between the 49ers and the Rams that I think you got to give everybody credit on the the Kyle Shanahan, Shawn McVey coaching tree is when push comes to shove and they lose quarterbacks, they find ways to win and that is so difficult to do. I mean, you’re looking at what’s happening right now at Cincinnati and building an offense and building game plans and allowing, you know, your quarterback to have success. U Kyle Shanahan’s done that with M. Jones. Obviously Kevin Oonnell has done that time and time again with the quarterbacks and the emergency fillins that they’ve had in the Vikings. And to Matt Lafleur’s credit, he did it last year with Malik Willis, right? Um so for the San Francisco 49ers and as they brought up too, I forget who this was in the 49ers organization, but San Francisco and LA is a sneaky rivalry like that has been it’s not bad blood, but I mean there’s been a lot of competitiveness there and a lot of 49er wins too over the last few years. Yeah, it it seems like it seems like that that rivalry that division clash, you know, sort of elevated itself to a rivalry when they played each other in the NFC Championship a handful of years ago. And that NFC Championship was at Sofi Stadium in LA, but every time the 49ers play there, the entire stadium is decked out in red. All the 49ers fans show up in LA to uh to to cheer on their team against the Rams. And uh and we saw that again. We saw that again on Thursday Night Football. These teams, the the the Rams and the Chargers, it’s like they never actually play home games, you know. I mean, I And the Raiders, what’s that? The Raiders. Yeah, the Raiders are in that same boat now that they’re not in Oakland anymore. They’re in Las Vegas and uh and their stadium gets invaded by by everybody else. So, here’s the other thing I want to run by you, though. We talked about Okay, so Buffalo and Philadelphia take their first losses. They’re 4-1. You mentioned that the Lions are 4 in one. But here’s the other list, Wes. The Colts, the Jaguars, the Buccaneers, and the 49ers. They are also all 4 in one. There are seven 4 in1 teams across the league right now. I don’t think, you know, you can say, I mean, who are who are the surprises? I don’t think anybody would have thought at this stage that both the Colts and the Jaguars would be 4-1. And then and then the next one on the list, you wouldn’t think the Buccaneers would be there, but Baker Mayfield just keeps pulling off this late game Magic stuff and and for as rough a game as his as the Buccaneers defense had against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle, the defense gets the big interception in the last minute and sets up the game-winning field goal and Tampa Bay gets on that long flight home from Seattle with another victory. Yeah, there was that comparison when Baker came out so many years ago now uh between him and Brett Favre and I I just think it’s held up so well. I mean, he is that type of quarterback and and obviously Cleveland didn’t really have the patience with him, but he he’s blossomed into something special and by all accounts, man, he’s going to be the Buccaneers quarterback here for the for foreseeable future. This isn’t just some stop gap. I mean, this is this is their guy and it’s incredible what he’s done to, you know, mount that resurgence. But at the same time, what’s happening with Indianapolis is why I love professional football because including myself here, everybody left Daniel Jones for dead. Everybody kind of scoffed at the signing of Daniel Jones being like, “Well, what what are you doing bringing him in to compete with Anthony Richardson? If if you’re signing him, you’re just waving the white flag already. I mean, you’re just conceding this thing to Richardson.” And then the guy put together a competitive training camp and ultimately gets the nod and and here he is, you know, leading this Colts offense. That’s actually one of the more entertaining football teams in the league right now. And if not and if not for Adonai Mitchell losing control of the ball while cross what would have been crossing the goal line for a touchdown against the Rams two weeks ago. We’d be talking about the Indianapolis Colts as the only 5-0 team in the NFL right now. That that one play um is uh is the difference. Now, also they got a last second victory over the Broncos when the whole leverage thing was called on the field goal and their kicker got another crack and he made it, you know. So, there’s that, too. But that, you know, that’s uh that’s this league and uh um but yeah, I you know, we watched the Packers and the Colts in a joint practice in Indianapolis and then we watched them play a preseason game and both teams kind of going into that preseason game with different goals and everything. But I did not leave Indianapolis in the middle of August and come back to Green Bay West thinking that that Indianapolis Colts team was going to be four- one here in early October. No, they’ve been super impressive. And when you ask me the biggest surprise, it is the fact that the AFC Southt has two 4-1 teams and neither of them are Houston. Yeah, it you know and and give credit to Liam Cohen and what they’ve built in Jacksonville and um you know not a bad defense that’s being coordinated down there now um by a certain former Packers linebackers coach coach Campanelli but um these this is this is what the National Football League is all about. Now you got to sustain it. Uh there’s shooting stars every season that then flicker and fall. So it is going to be a battle of what it what happens. But if you if you look at what Kansas City’s going through right now after the loss to Jacksonville, if you look at a 14-point lead on Monday Night Football for real. And then you look at, you know, Baltimore now is going through it. Lamar Jackson dealing with a hamstring injury, which is just awful for his game and the way he wants to play for sure. Uh, and the amount I mean, we’re talking about an historic amount of yardage right now that the Ravens are relinquishing defensively, which we are not accustomed to over Baltimore over the last 25 years. uh particularly during the John Harbaugh era, they would all be dying to be in the position right now that the Colts are in, that the Jaguars are in, and then you look at a team like the New York Jets who are 0 and5 and have not forced a turnover yet this season. Uh it is it football is a difficult difficult game. So yeah, when you win when you get off to a three plus three in the win column through the first month of the season, that’s an accomplishment. Yeah. and and just I think the I think the best example right now in the NFL of how quickly things can turn and we talked about it last week and we we we’re talking about again this week is the Los Angeles Chargers. They start out the season 3 and 0. They look like they have everything going for them. They go on the road, fly across country to Jersey to play a winless New York Giants team that is starting a rookie quarterback for the first time and they drop that one. Then they’re looking like they’re on the verge of bouncing back, jumping out to a 10- nothing lead against Washington. They’re driving for a touchdown that’s going to put them up 17 to nothing. The receiver makes the catch, fumbles the ball, Washington recovers, and the Chargers don’t score the rest of the game and lose 27 to 10 after leading 10 to nothing and looking like they were going to extend that lead. That is how quickly things can turn. Now suddenly the Chargers who two weeks ago were 3-0 are now 3-2 and everybody’s asking where is their season headed, right? So it’s a long haul. As we say, it’s a marathon. It’s not a sprint. There are a ton of games left. All sorts of things can happen. All that matters for the Packers right now, they got their buy, they got their rest. Hopefully they’re getting healthy. And now you got a struggling team coming into Lambeau Field. And we’ll talk more about them on our next Yeah. AFC games, uncommon opponents, non-conference games are sort of the fast food of this thing. Like they’re not necessarily that great for you, but you need them occasionally. And last year, the Packers making the playoffs was built a lot on their success against the AFC South. Yeah. Sweeping at all four all four victories. So, while you want to get you want to win in the North, you want to win these NFC games when you face the Dallas Cowboys, especially those crossconference games or cross division games, excuse me. uh the the Packers have to get back because now you look at Cleveland and the struggles that they had against everybody else within the division. Um that stuff all comes out in the wash at the end of the season. So u for the Packers, the only thing they can focus on right now is Cincinnati. We’ll preview it on Thursday, but the Bengals are a hurting unit and as I wrote insider inbox, now is the time for the Packers to pounce. Absolutely. And presumably later in the week, we will have an answer on Cincinnati’s quarterback as we dive into that team a little bit more. But for now, we’ll just make it up. And we’ll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers.com. For Wes, I’m Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will see you next time. [Music]

Mike and Wes discuss the Packers returning from their bye week, including the news that WR Christian Watson is practicing (:29), additional injury updates (4:50), questions surrounding the Bengals (8:53), and the current state of the NFC North and league results through Week 5 (13:12). Editor’s note: This episode was recorded before Cincinnati traded for QB Joe Flacco.

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