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S2 Episode 37 Can Packers Strike Gold in San Fran?
67 Plays1 year ago
Aloha and Welcome to another episode of OPE! On this episode we preview the divisional round game against the San Francisco 49ers! We take a look at how the teams match up, the keys to victory and make some predictions!
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Be sure to also check out our website ohanapackers.org, follow us on twitter @ohana_packers, once we hit 230 followers we will be giving away a signed John Kuhn 8x10
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Transcript
Packers' Unexpected Victory and Upcoming Game
00:00:30
Speaker
Aloha and welcome back to the divisional round opponent preview of the Ohana Packers edition podcast. The podcasts were two dudes from halfway across the country. Talk everything green and gold. I'm Mike and that's Iowa Joe. Joe, Packers are playing into the second weekend of the playoffs. How are you doing tonight? Well, I'm still
00:00:55
Speaker
First off, I'm still in disbelief that they actually won the way they did. And two, I'm, I'm going into this game again, feeling like I went into the last game where I just, you know, you hope for the best, but it doesn't seem like it's a bright,
00:01:14
Speaker
future, if that's how you want to call it. I mean, I did say after last week, the love has the chance to do the funniest thing in the world and do something that Rogers couldn't do. And that's beat the 49ers in the playoffs. But I think I know they've had a lot of tests throughout the season, but this is like,
00:01:36
Speaker
this is like boss battle type test for them this week. I, I, they not played a team like San Francisco yet this year. I mean, yeah, they've played good teams, Detroit and, and guys like that, but at Kansas city and, and, uh, um, you know, really, and you know, the Cowboys this past week, but
00:02:04
Speaker
Really, when you look at San Francisco, there's not really glaring weaknesses. I know that outside of their left tackle, there's not much of an offensive line, but they've been able to make it work because they have the weapons to get out of it.
00:02:22
Speaker
you know, they've got a Christian McCaffrey, they've got a Deebo Samuels, they've got George Kittle. They, you, you can go up and down their list and they have pretty good players all along the way. Same way on defense. They, they, they keep bringing in more and more guys on that defense just and
00:02:46
Speaker
As much as I would love to see them do it, I can't be optimistic for this week. And so far it's worked well for us that me being pessimistic, they've really proved me wrong. But I don't know, I don't see it happening this week.
49ers' Strengths and Packers' Path to Victory
00:03:05
Speaker
Yeah, while there were pretty tangible paths to a victory last week,
00:03:13
Speaker
This week, you know, Westendorf and I were talking about, he kind of brought it up on, um, How many times have I told you, don't talk to that guy. He's bad for you. But, you know, he kind of mentioned that on pick six, that the path to victory on this, this week against the 49ers, it feels like you're walking on a rickety path with thousand foot cliff drops on either side of you. And that path is teetering under your feet. So it's, it's a, they're in Hawaii.
00:03:44
Speaker
Not on the island I'm on. Well, not anything you should go on. Don't raise my taxpayer costs, God damn it. We'll start with our usual. We'll do our Packer update. So the Packers had a projected practice on Tuesday, and then they did their actual practice on Wednesday. No real surprises there.
00:04:09
Speaker
Jair, AJ Dillon, and Kingsley Enogbury were all out today. LeFlore did mention that they're more hopeful than not about Jair didn't really talk about AJ. And I'm not really gonna hold out hope on Kingsley because I feel like every time I do on someone with what's expected to be an ACL,
00:04:32
Speaker
right after I tweet something about like oh they haven't said anything yet that's the moment that oh put on IR so I get the feeling it's one of those where they kind of know what it is they just can't confirm it because the knee is too swollen to get a clear MRI or something like that but I expect that he'll be out before basically said that Cox is next man up um and then
00:04:55
Speaker
They've got Kishan Banks, their international guy, Kenneth Otomegu on the practice squad, who I assume Banks will get called up. But I mean, a lot of people have been banging the Cox train and it gets to roll into town this week and get to see what it is. Did you phrase that completely horrible 12 year old mind? But I want to kind of touch on and then I go and I'm not going to touch on Cox. No, that's not going to happen.
00:05:25
Speaker
I do want to. I was listening to Lombardi's bar earlier like I normally do on Wednesday nights. Go check him out even though they don't like some talk about us too much. We will. We will talk about them a little bit.
00:05:43
Speaker
But I take that back. I got to give Dan credit on a recent podcast that he was a guest on. He talked about my defensive coordinator article. So he said it was good, and he was saying good things about it. And it kind of made me feel dirty that he was saying nice things about my stuff. But anyway, I digress.
Packers' Player Conditions and Roster Updates
00:06:09
Speaker
They had Monty and Tyler Herrick on and all of them seem to say that they didn't know when Enigbari got hurt, but I thought I saw where it happened. He was like coming around the edge and then all of a sudden he just like started hopping and went again.
00:06:35
Speaker
And that being the case, that's not a good sign. The player I was actually looking for is because Herman mentioned that Quay looked like he came up limp a little bit on a drive. And what I think it was is I think he cramped up because he kind of went down on a tackle, held his leg, and then stayed in the rest of the drive. And then they took him out. But today, the last two days, he's only been listed with a shoulder. So I think he got out in the clear. And yeah.
00:07:02
Speaker
If that's where JJ got hurt, it's more than likely a non-contact knee injury, which means that it's the dreaded ACL. Well, and it doesn't help that if they're saying that the area is too swollen for an MRI, there is some kind of damage. Yeah, they haven't said that, but that's what I'm assuming where they're like, on late Sunday and early Monday, all you heard was they had Pelocero and Rappaport were saying,
00:07:29
Speaker
Uh, the fear is that it's a torn ACL for JJ. Well, and the floor said that it wasn't good for him. So yeah, it's very unlikely that it's not the worst case scenario for him. So you just hope that it's a clean tear and that, um, the operation eventually, whenever they do have it goes, uh, well, otherwise more about him. Predraft. How many has he had in his career?
00:07:58
Speaker
um i know he had i i don't think he tore his acl before but i know he had a knee injury before i'd have to look into what kind of knee injury it was but i think it kind of does help that he was never a like super athlete that he always was a guy who got by on technique strength and guile more than anything else so you'd like to think that he comes back obviously if he has a
00:08:22
Speaker
big drop-off in athleticism. That's not great for him, but I'd like to think that he'll be able to come back pretty decently from this one because his game was never built on being way wicked athletic compared to the guy across the field. He uses more strength than any kind of speeder. Yeah, and effort, yeah.
00:08:42
Speaker
just an absolute bummer because he was a guy I really liked coming out of the draft last season. So hope it's a quick and clean recovery for him. But the rest of the roster, it looks like they got out relatively well from Dallas.
00:08:56
Speaker
Bunch of guys on the limited participant, but the main thing is that, like I said, only Kingsley, Jair and Dylan were listed as DMPs. Everybody else was a limited, and then the one full participant was Kwe.
00:09:13
Speaker
Green Bay is going in as to be. Um something we w players is they did play know they put in the deep points, but that unit did and the Niners are not ne
00:09:30
Speaker
coming off of that many snaps just for reference the average number of snaps a either an offense or a defense is expected to play in a regular game is 60 65 snaps a game so they basically played a game and a half worth of snaps so
00:09:47
Speaker
We'll see how that plays out for
Challenges of Cross-Country Travel for Packers
00:09:49
Speaker
them. You know, it's a short week. You're going, you know, you're flying back from Dallas to Green Bay, then you're going cross country. I know LeFlore kind of thought about maybe going out to California earlier in the week, but he said they shut that down relatively quick. So,
00:10:05
Speaker
We'll see where they go. But I mean, this is it. It's it's put up or shut up time. The 49ers. Well, they're not coming to the Packers are flying out to Santa Clara to face the Niners at Levi Stadium, a venue that has been a house of horrors for them other than during the covid season when their hope after important players were injured that game. But
00:10:29
Speaker
It's going to be tough sledding for the Packers. They're going to be roaring upstream. By every traditional and advanced statistics, the Niners are a great team. They should be the favorite in the NFC.
00:10:44
Speaker
you know, kind of depending on how you feel about them matching up against different teams from the AFC, they're either going to be the favorite or, you know, they're not going to be a huge betting dog or anything when they face off if they make it to the Super Bowl. So, um, you know, by Devioid is the second best team in the league, first on offense, fourth on defense. And surprisingly, they're in our neck of the woods on special teams at 25th. Um, but you know, they're,
00:11:12
Speaker
like you kind of mentione This is a team that Green of their style of play want to play bully ball Green Bay has kind of se Detroit did to us in wee night game where Detroit in the face and the packers
00:11:35
Speaker
couldn't fight back until it was too little too late so um you know the Niners Green Bay just faced the highest scoring offense in the league last week facing Dallas and now they're gonna face the second highest scoring offense in the league uh San Fran is first in yards per game just a shade under 400 um third in rush yards per game fourth in pass yards per game but first in yards per pass so
00:12:03
Speaker
Um, I, I laugh because it's one of those, I don't really know what Barry's going to do this week. The ultimate irony is that he did have success relatively against this San Fran team and scheme back in 2021. Um, gave up, what was that? Like.
00:12:24
Speaker
34 points across two games to the San Fran offense granted they I just know that the one game was the playoff game where yeah Yeah, so I so six points up there and then they scored 28 in San Fran when we played them in week three or whatever it was so 34 points across two games
00:12:48
Speaker
The two obvious differences that are going to make a big difference are they've got a better quarterback and a much better running back situation than they did when we played them.
00:13:00
Speaker
you can't hemorrhage rush yards.
Packers' Strategy Against 49ers' Offense
00:13:02
Speaker
We've seen that happen in the NFC championship game back after the 2019 season. And then the thing that's just ate this Packers defense alive at too many times this season is what are they going to do in the middle of the field? And Shanahan, he
00:13:20
Speaker
is so good at scheming up opportunities where against zone heavy teams, he likes to create route combinations that clear, you call them clear out routes where you run an offensive player through a zone to take that defender away and then you run a second guy through it to take advantage of that opening. And so Barry's gonna have to do exactly what we don't expect him to do and come up with something new to throw a wrench into that machine.
00:13:50
Speaker
I don't want to say it comes down to hope, but you know, one of Green Bay's big things is they've played a game where they looked, you know, I can't say that it was much of what Barry did necessarily on Sunday, as much as the guys played hard and they made a lot of plays. You're kind of hoping Green Bay can replicate some of that and that San Fran comes out rusty because you look at
00:14:11
Speaker
you know they did the whole super successful team thing where they rested all their key guys in week 18 had the buy and now so a lot of their guys are coming off of two weeks and I think some guys even sat out their week 17 game so they've got some guys who haven't played a game in nearly a month at this point so
00:14:29
Speaker
You don't want to build a game strategy off of hope, but for a team that's Green Bay opened as a 10 point dog, they're looking for anything that they can get their hands on. And like you mentioned that I have in the notes here, Trent Williams is dominant, elite, gonna be a Hall of Famer, but I couldn't tell you the names of the rest of their four offensive linemen.
00:14:55
Speaker
that you've seen them struggle is when you can, I want to say stop their run game. They have a very good run game. They integrate, you know,
00:15:04
Speaker
Christian McCaffrey is healthy and explosive. Well, he's on the injury report, so we'll see how healthy he is. But I expect him to be pretty healthy coming off of two weeks rest. And then, you know, they can always integrate Deebo into the run game. They use a lot of the same motions that Green Bay does. Kyle Juszczyk is still one of the best fullbacks in the game, and Kittle is one of the nightmare blocking matchups for any edge defender. So,
00:15:31
Speaker
Not a lot of avenues to success, but other than just have to out execute and out play on, but Joe, anything other than being a, you know, anything for this Green Bay defense to be more than a speed bump on Saturday.
00:15:45
Speaker
Good Lord, I couldn't tell you half these guys. Trent Williams at left tackle, Aaron Banks at left guard, Jake Brindle at center, Spencer Burford at right guard, and Colin McKivits at right tackle. I think I've heard of Brindle because he's been around for a while, but the other three, I have no clue how or when San Fran acquired him.
00:16:14
Speaker
Like I said, you've seen, I know it became a laugher, but early in that Eagles game, Philly was stymieing San Fran early in that game because the other four guys couldn't block the rest of that Philly front and then San Fran got one first down and then the snowball just turned into an avalanche.
00:16:36
Speaker
You know, that's where losing Kingsley hurts because they like to hockey line change their edges. Maybe this is the week they caught. Like I said, you know, you assume Kishan Banks is going to get called up. Maybe this is the week that you bring up Jonathan Ford or Chris Slayton to beef up the interior defensive line. But it, you know, I.
00:16:57
Speaker
I think it's going to be a matter of just holding on for dear life on defense, and it's going to be on the other side of the ball that if Green Bay is going to have any chance that, you know, you're just, as Ross Uglum kind of tweets jokingly during a game, a Green Bay Packers game with Barrie as the coordinator, he goes, you might have a couple more stops if it's like,
00:17:18
Speaker
later in the game he's like okay you're probably out of stops you need to score a lot more now so that's the you know I don't know how many stops the Packers are gonna have you're gonna have to count holding the 49ers to field goals as a stop but okay I got I've got it I know what Joe Barry needs to do so Joe I'm gonna call you Joe from one Joe to another Joe this is what you got to do
00:17:44
Speaker
So you've got two bull rushing fiends in your edge rusher court.
Defensive Tactics and Exploiting 49ers' Weaknesses
00:17:52
Speaker
And one of them, you've been putting his hand in the dirt a lot lately and he's had a ton of success doing it. You know, the left side is going to be pretty well locked down. So, you know, you can throw Preston over there. You can throw Britain Cox over there, you know, whatever just, you know, let him deal with it.
00:18:11
Speaker
But then on the other side, when you got guys that we don't even know who the hell they are, you put Lucas van Ness with his hand in the dirt and Rashawn Gary right beside them standing up. They're going to collapse the pocket no matter what. There's no way they're going to be able to stop that.
00:18:32
Speaker
You got to get to passing downs, but anytime that they do, they're going to have to get creative too. Cause that's the thing with Purdy. And I know you know him better than even better than I do, but I, I joke all the time that somewhere in there, Iowa state Purdy is still in there. So I, you know, I mean, it's some, and I don't know him great. Just because he is from the other, you know, the little brother of the, of the state, but.
00:19:01
Speaker
I think everybody's kind of surprised at what he's doing right now. Just because I don't think they really saw that in college. But again, like I said, I'm going to be honest, the only time that I really watched him was he when he would play against Iowa. But I just
00:19:28
Speaker
I honestly have to believe because of the weapons around him is what's helping him more often than not. Yeah, I'm not saying he's a bad quarterback. He's he's doing better than you know, a lot of other guys in that situation.
00:19:44
Speaker
you know, who knows what Justin Fields would be doing with the same weapons that Purdy has or, you know, go back a few years, like Blake Bortles or Blaine Gabbard or guys like that, how they would do if they had the setup that Purdy has right now. But I just, I, how do I want to put this using the, uh,
00:20:15
Speaker
He's out kicking his, his coverage right now. There is going to be, and we've seen that happen where he has those come back to earth moments.
00:20:25
Speaker
But his coverage is really good with those between McCaffrey, Depot, IU, and Kittle. That's a lot of coverage for a guy. And like I said, Shanahan does a lot of good for him where it's like, it's a tunnel screen here. It's a tight end screen there. Throw it to McCaffrey in the flat after everyone's been run off by your two receivers and stuff like that.
00:20:48
Speaker
Uh, and then Jo, uh, while Joanne Jennings appears out of nowhere and just catches a key third down pass for you or something like that. But it's, it's going to be about, you know, San Fran is going to get theirs.
00:21:03
Speaker
Don't be disappointed in that, especially against this Packers defense under Barry. And it's just about when you get your opportunities to get them off the field, you've got to get them off the field. Can't be allowing them to convert third and 15 plus. You can't be blowing first and 30 if you get them into a dumb situation like that.
00:21:24
Speaker
You've got to stem the tide. You know, you've got to turn them back whenever you have the chance. Good Lord, they got Chris Conley on the team. This is insert Obi-Wan Kenobi meme. Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.
00:21:46
Speaker
No, they've done a decent job of just collecting and assimilating names that a lot of people will recognize. Some on offense, but mostly on defense, which we'll get to in a sec. But yeah, like I said, I think we saw the best that the Packers defense is going to give them against Dallas. And I do think Dallas played into a lot of that. We'll see what Barry's able to do. Honestly,
00:22:16
Speaker
My thing, and I know Barry's not gonna do it, but I'd rather go down in base defense, getting shot at. If we give up some big pass plays, well, but you just can't get slashed to death by this run game. If you're gonna play a light box the whole game, you got away with it in Dallas. You're not gonna get away with it this week against the 49ers. As much of a, like I said, as much as
00:22:41
Speaker
Trent Bowie's how that offensive line is looked at. Shanahan is the kind of stubborn and creative to just gas your defense if you're going to try and sit in an underman box for the majority of the time. Like I said at the beginning of the show,
00:23:03
Speaker
Tony Pollard is no Christian McCaffrey. And that's not a slight against Tony Pollard. I mean, Tony Pollard is a solid running back, but he's not a Christian McCaffrey. Christian McCaffrey is a playmaker. He's a all around type of playmaker. He was in MVP talks at one point this season. And I know like regular season awards, but like he was earning that, that
00:23:26
Speaker
much more than the other guy on that offense who's getting talked about as a potential candidate. So yeah, I mean that I think that's helping pretty out a lot. And you said that he's got all these weapons around him that are making up for what maybe he lacks a little bit up. So it is what it is. But like I said, I said this against for the Dallas game pressure.
00:23:55
Speaker
If you can get pretty out of sync, he's not going to do what he did. He's done all year. I think that was the key that the Ravens did is they just got him out of rhythm and they just dominated with pressure. Yeah. And I think that's the way you're going to go. And the Packers have the weapons to do that, to put pressure on him.
00:24:18
Speaker
Hopefully Campbell can play. Hopefully McDuffie can play. Those will be a couple of guys that they can sneak in there to add to the pressure. Yeah. Kingsley JJ is out, but you know, they still have Lucas. They still have Rashawn. They still have Preston. They still have the guys that can rotate in there and do what you need them to do. So yeah, pressure them. Yeah. Um,
00:24:49
Speaker
Yeah. And like I said, when you have your opportunities, don't miss. That's going to be the big thing for defense. And then on the other side, the 49ers defense is an absolute buzz saw.
Packers' Defense vs. 49ers' Formidable Front
00:25:02
Speaker
They give up the third most, third fewest points in the league, just 17 and a half, just over 300 yards per game.
00:25:11
Speaker
Um, the third fewest rush part yards per game, but they are giving up the 14th most rush yards or yards per rush, which I think is one of those functions of like teams late in the game, trying to just get yards any way they can. They're middle of the pack in terms of yard pass yards per game allowed, but they are fifth, uh, fifth lowest at just under six yards per pass. So a lot of that is due to this defensive front. Um, they have just.
00:25:39
Speaker
assimilated an army on this defensive front. You know, Nick Bosa is the headliner. He's ticked under what he was last year when he was the defensive player of the year candidate, but he's still dangerous. They added Javon Hargrove this offseason, which is just a stupid free agent ad to pair with Eric Armistad on the interior of their defensive line. Thanks, Colin Farrell.
00:26:03
Speaker
Colin Farrell, who has not participated in practice this week, but has become a player for this San Fran front after being a dud for the Raiders, as I think the fourth overall pick in the draft in 2019. They added Chase Young at the trade deadline, and then they got to sign Sebastian Joseph Day off the street after the Chargers cut him late in the season.
00:26:32
Speaker
Again, and then adding to that, their linebacker level, Fred Warner is the best inside linebacker in the NFL right now. One to watch out for is Dre Greenlaw. He did practice on Wednesday, but he was out on Tuesday with an Achilles issue. So not sure if he'll be limited or hobbled at all, but he and Warner make one of the better inside linebacker pairings. They're very rangy, but also aggressive and physical against the run.
00:27:00
Speaker
For the second week in the row, it's going to be on this O-line to be able to protect. And I wasn't paying attention about former Packer Orrin Burks, who has really turned things around in San Francisco. It's falling off after the first month of the season. It looked great. But after that, the sheen has come off of it a bit.
00:27:23
Speaker
Of course, now I've just jinxed it that he's going to make a game changing play. But well, yeah, now he's going to come out and be the packer killer because he's going to want his revenge on him. But and they also have Randy Gregory as a backup for the rush. He's toast at this point. Yeah, but that just it's a, you know, like I know. Well, it's not just a body, but it's a rotational piece. Like we were just talking about the Packers.
00:27:50
Speaker
But the big key is if the Packers can protect, this secondary is not very good. I know that I think Ward is their top corner, and he has become a decent quarterback. But after that, they fall off pretty hard. I know Lenore has made a name for himself as their nickel, but he's one of those physical nickels that doesn't move very well. Actually, that's not how they have it listed in the depth chart.
00:28:21
Speaker
Or do they have orders? Yeah, they have board is their left corner. Lenore is the right and Isaiah Oliver is their nickel.
00:28:28
Speaker
okay oh yeah so yeah but i know that they have a relatively short short string with um short rope with oliver if he gets toasted early they'll put like ambry thomas in on the perimeter and slide lennore over to the slot but that's the thing is like their corners you know they they play well in that system it's they're better than gallus's corners but they're still not a top tier defensive back group they do thrive off of
00:28:58
Speaker
you know their plays that need to be made are you know like vacuum cleaner plays they're a lot of cleanup after their their defensive front has chewed up and spat out whatever it can just
00:29:10
Speaker
emulsify on its own, so there's a lot of wayward passes, running plays that get strung out to the sideline, but the big key for the 49ers is Kufunga, their safety, their top safety is out. He's been out for a couple months with a torn ACL. So if the Packers can slow this pass rush down with their run game, and if their O-line can continue to play well and pass protect well, there is
00:29:40
Speaker
In avenue for them to create explosives in the passing game because the 49ers like I said, do not have a lot of athletes on the back end you know to Sean Gibson is
00:29:53
Speaker
in his early to mid 30s at this point. Yeah, I was just looking at it. And then none of their corners are particularly, none of them are really athletic specimens. So this is a week where, and I caught a lot of feedback on it. I said, I don't think Green Bay is going to win, but I'm just happy that we're going into this one with a quarterback who's not going to go in with a part of the field just crossed off mentally before each play.
00:30:22
Speaker
And some people were like, oh, there you go. You have to bring Rogers into it, blah, blah. But I'm like, you can ignore it all you want, but you go and look to that 2019 NFC Championship game.
Opportunities and Challenges for Jordan Love
00:30:33
Speaker
Oh, but he threw at Sherman. Yeah, when they were down 34 to 10 or whatever the hell the score was at that point. When the game was in the balance, everything was to the left.
00:30:44
Speaker
nothing was to the middle of the field because Rogers doesn't believe it exists and and to those people who said oh it's because he doesn't want to throw hospital balls that ain't it you know like i could make a really skating remark about why he doesn't that he's afraid to but you know okay if you want to okay yeah he's trying to avoid interceptions yada yada okay
00:31:06
Speaker
And then he's just like in that game, it was, oh, Richard Sherman's out there. I'm just not even going to look to that side. So, you know, maybe, maybe love just starts chucking it to the guys in, in red and gold, but maybe he's able to just, I don't want to say shred, but pick apart this secondary at certain points because he's willing to look at any and every direction at any given time of the game. And, you know,
00:31:34
Speaker
it's he's riding high a lot of things are working for him and
00:31:40
Speaker
We've said it multiple times. A lot of people have said it multiple times. He's playing with house money at this point. He's playing loose. He's playing free. And as long as they don't let him get murdered by that pass rush, I hope Lafleur just lets it fly whenever he can. Obviously, try to protect him with the run game. It'd be great if they can figure out how to finally get Aaron Jones going against this San Fran defense.
00:32:04
Speaker
But, um, yeah, I think that's the bigger key is like, and we, you know, in some of the games where they got stuck against San Fran, it's because, you know, in 2019 in both the regular season and the playoff game, they were afraid to push the ball deep until the game didn't matter.
00:32:21
Speaker
The 2020 game, I don't really count because Bosa wasn't there. They had traded to Forest Buckner. I don't even remember if Armstead played in that regular season game. I think Warner was the only defender of consequence. Sherman was hurt and stuff. So like Rogers picked them apart, but he was playing against a depleted defense in that one.
00:32:40
Speaker
And then in the 21 playoff game, what happens? Green Bay goes right down the field, scores on its opening touchdown, or its opening drive. Then on their second drive, it looks like they're moving the ball well again. Mercedes-Louis fumbles the ball, and Rodgers just absolutely turtles after that point in the game.
00:32:59
Speaker
Devontae was almost good enough to carry them past the 49ers. And honestly, with a better special team in an average special team unit, Devontae probably does carry the team on his back to victory. But you know, we've seen these receivers step up every week.
00:33:18
Speaker
to turn it back to something that we talked about in the preseason that you and I both touched on. One of the big questions we had was, is this rookie class going to hit the wall at some point? The irony of that is that whether it's doing things early. They hit the wall early. Yeah. Or I think they haven't seen the wall yet because due to injuries, lack of usage in Tucker Craft's case until Luke Musgrave's injury, whatever,
00:33:44
Speaker
they've either missed a bunch of games or weren't utilized until the middle or later part of the season so that they're all still playing about the same number of games they would have played in college anyway kind of thing so the rookie wall isn't necessarily going to hit those guys and
00:34:03
Speaker
shoot like Green Bay has nothing to lose you're already seeing like 49er fans spout out you saw some of them in like the the pick six chat the Lombardi's bar chat and stuff like that okay sure fine you guys are like I said your 10-point favorites to win at home Green Bay shouldn't cover but I think they can well do it do I expect them to I hope they do I don't know if they will but
00:34:33
Speaker
I don't think this team is going to just roll over and die.
00:34:37
Speaker
Honestly, that's all I can ask for at this point. You've gotten, like we said last week, now you're two weeks farther into the postseason than we expected this team to get. And like I said before the Dallas game, just go down swinging. I don't care, you know, as long as no one gets hurt, just go down swinging, take your best shot or shots and let the cards fall where they do when that 60 minutes is up.
00:35:05
Speaker
pretty much, and I'm going to say it again. LeFlore needs to go out and do what he did against Dallas. I'm hoping it's a quick strike and, you know, get the points on the board and make San Francisco play from behind because that'll take away a lot of the things that they will have game planned for. Yeah, that's going to be your best run defense is getting up.
00:35:33
Speaker
saying to get up two scores on San Fran is a big ask of this Packers team in this matchup. But I mean, that's going to be their best run defenses if they can get a multi-score lead on them. And like we both said, you want to make Iowa State purdy come out. And the way you do that is you put him in a deficit. I don't know how we're going to get there, but you've got to try and get there. And that could be the difference between having a chance at winning or just getting run off the field.
00:36:03
Speaker
And just don't do what Mark Chamorro said to do. I don't know where the hell that came from, but don't do it.
Motivations and Speculations on Packers' Ceiling
00:36:16
Speaker
I saw some like 49ers Twitter handles trying to be like, it's bulletin board material.
00:36:23
Speaker
Yeah, we disowned that guy for a while. We honestly disowned that station when the one anchor tried to show up at minicamp and pose as a Jets fan or whatever and no one cared. That was the equivalent of the scene from Jurassic Park when Nedry's like, Dodson, Dodson's here! No one cares.
00:36:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's whatever. Play between the white lines, play to the whistle, but yeah, don't go into any of that extracurriculars. Just put your best shot up, and you know what?
00:37:02
Speaker
As stupid as this sounds, I know how bad this team can be. I don't know how good this team necessarily can be. I know that sounds like a foolish thing to say from opposing fans and be like, oh, there you go being overly optimistic. I don't expect Green Bay to win. But if love is going to be the best quarterback remaining in the playoffs,
00:37:26
Speaker
I don't know what the ceiling is for this team. I do think it's handicapped heavily by whatever this defense is going to do or not going to do. And you're still leaning on a first year starting quarterback with, you know, six out of his top eight receiving options are six out of his top nine receiving options are rookies, but they're all young, athletic, explosive, relatively healthy as they're going to be.
00:37:55
Speaker
You know, the the old four Red Sox going into their games when they were down three against the Yankees. There's their one of their catch phrases was why not us and that should be the attitude that this Packers team has. You've been the favorite under the floor.
00:38:12
Speaker
and it hasn't worked out. So go be the underdog just and as as the coach you just wiped the floor with last week in Dallas said back in 2010 we are nobody's underdog. Just have that attitude and just lay it all on the field and whatever happens at the end happens at the end.
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, that's about all you can do about it. And I think if you're even 75%, maybe even 65% you play no matter what I, I mean, I know you don't want to risk a career type injury or a severe injury or anything like that, but at this point you need all hands on deck. And I,
00:38:55
Speaker
I know they're doing what they can with Jair to get him out there. It sounds like it just kind of reiterated that spraying and they're, they're running through the same, uh, procedure that they did before the cowboy game. But definitely sucks that the game is on Saturday this week, but
00:39:15
Speaker
can't no one's gonna care that you're crying at this point so um just gotta do the best with what you gotta do and just see where like i said just see where the cards lie at the end but and i wonder if it was more of a cramp than it was actual a respraying because you look everything that i read and heard that he was walking around you know normally so
00:39:37
Speaker
as much as we could see like I know he did the camera op at the end for the the team's social media and it didn't seem like he was walking with you know an enormous limp or anything like that so and the way he went down I re-watched that play several times it didn't look like he rolled the ankle at all so yeah it's
00:39:57
Speaker
It's like he took a bad step. Yeah. When initially the way he acted, I thought the worst. Yeah, I thought or is it killer stand in or something like I thought he had a soft tissue injury, not like the ankle. So, yeah.
00:40:12
Speaker
But so I guess starting off, that will be the first yes, no, you know, does Jair play? And I'm going to obviously say yes, because like I said, even if you're only at 65 percent, we need all hands on deck at this point. Yeah, I think I think.
00:40:29
Speaker
Obviously we're recording this on Wednesday night, but I think this is one that you try and obviously you hope he can play the whole game, but you know he's going to try it out. The first series and if it doesn't go, you know, I appreciate that he tried, but I think they're going to get at least a good half out of Jair and the thing you just got to worry about is San Fran is probably going to run at him kind of thing and stuff, so it'll be interesting. You know that part of the chess game and all that kind of stuff too. So we'll see how that all plays itself out.
00:41:00
Speaker
I don't have this one wrote down, but I'm going to do this because it's Mike Kawano, the number one fan. Does Darnell Savage have back-to-back amazing games? I'm going to say yes. You know what? We're going down, like I said, we're going down, swinging with the ship.
00:41:25
Speaker
I know this isn't a matchup, whether it's, you know, the Frody Niners in their power run game or if Savage has to kill, but screw it. I'm pushing my chips into the center of the table because they're going to need it if they're going to pull this one off. So why not? I don't have an answer for it. I just want to see him do stuff, but I just wanted to see if we could get another. Don't earn your extension, Darnell. The impactor for the next four years.
00:41:56
Speaker
But so I guess over under wise, they're simple ones. Because really, who knows what the hell is going to happen.
Predictions for Packers' Performance Metrics
00:42:06
Speaker
I said I'm so low last week. And it turned out that I was way off on all of them just because of how they played. So I just came up with some off the wall ones. So the first one I got is Jordan Love 225 and 1.5 yards passing.
00:42:24
Speaker
I'm going over and because OK, my point of reference is Rogers had 326 in that 2019 game. I hope 200. I hope the over matters, but I think he's going to get it one way or the other. They're going to throw the ball. You know, I don't want to say a bunch because obviously if they can get Jones going, they're going to run it as much as they can, but I think he's going to have like 250 at least. Yeah, I.
00:42:51
Speaker
I think I'm going to take the over just a little bit because really even against in the Dallas game, he only went to 76. So if
00:43:04
Speaker
if they can get Jones and the run game going, you know, I think there might even be some like, and I know people are going to cringe when they hear it, but I think you're going to see a little bit more of the end around trick play type stuff. So it might eat into his passing yards just a little bit, but I'll take the over just
00:43:27
Speaker
Barely over though. So Aaron Jones 65 and a half yards. We're at week. What four of 100 yard rushing games for Jones. So what do you think? Is he going to go for another one or is he? Is it due for him to have a bad one? I don't know if he'll get 100, but I think he'll go over 65 and a half. They're going to need him to.
00:43:53
Speaker
Strangely, I'm going to go under and just slightly because I think I really think Dylan is going to do his best to play. And I think they're going to throw him out there. I think they're going to throw Emmanuel Wilson out there because they're towards the end of the game when he was just getting garbage time snaps. He started to warm up a little bit.
00:44:18
Speaker
So I think again, I think it'll eat into the Aaron Jones. And again, I think there'll be some like in around type things where maybe Jayden Reed gets some rushing yards. So it'll eat into it a little bit. So I'm going to go under, but just like barely under. I think really, I think it'll be like he'll beat at 65 yards. And then my last one is two and a half sacks by the defense, the pack. I think they're going to get over that.
00:44:47
Speaker
I'm going to go for it. So far, all of, uh, Lucas vanessa sacks have come against, you know, big time, quote unquote, uh, playmakers. He's got two on fields. He's got one on my homes. He's got one on deck. Uh, what's the other one he's got? Cause he had four during the regular season. Didn't he? Yeah. Two on fields.
00:45:17
Speaker
One on my homes and what's the last one? Yeah, why am I blanking on this too? Oh, what's the last one? Damn it, brain work. Oh, he got Baker. Baker.
00:45:45
Speaker
And then this last week he got Dak. That was a hell of a sack that he got on Dak. Yeah, I saw the all 22 of somebody did a breakdown on it where he basically did like a 360 against the tackle and came up on Dak. He was like four inches off the ground on that one. Yeah, so Hawkeye Pride.
00:46:11
Speaker
We're going to take down that damn cyclone. And Lucas Van Ness is going to eat and eat and eat. Do it. He's going to get three himself. Do it just for the Hawkeye State. That's why it's called the Hawkeye State. It's not the cyclone state. It's the Hawkeye State. I'm all for it. I'm all for it.
00:46:36
Speaker
Yeah, hopefully don't get this Anthony Johnson Jr. There are two teams in Iowa. I don't want you to hate me about this, but Brock Purdy you suck it. Yeah, that would be pretty cool if Johnson got a pick of his former teammate, but I mean Preston's had some success against Trent Williams before. Rashawn had one of his best games of his career against the 49ers in that 2021 playoff game, so.
00:47:02
Speaker
Uh, I know that they're not the same players. I think Trent is the only player on that O-line from that 2021 playoff team. Who knows? Cause I don't even know where they came up with these other guys. They could have been like cooking them in a lab for all I know. Cause I can't recognize a name off of them.
Coaching Strategies and Matchup Anticipation
00:47:20
Speaker
But yeah, like we said, the, the catchphrase for this week is just go down swinging. Like, um, don't.
00:47:28
Speaker
Like you kind of mentioned for the floor and that would be a big one for the floor to, to finally beat Shanahan in a game that matters. Cause what is he, he's like one for four against him or two for four or two for three. Cause he's got the 2020 and the 2021 regular season wins, but he's lost, uh, the two 2019 games and then the 2021 playoff games. So yeah. And they've all been somewhere between blowout to just.
00:47:57
Speaker
wet fart I don't I don't know I start to blank those out after a while just because but yeah for I need it would be a great time for Shanahan to just smoke one of his friends not McVeigh not not not not not Shanahan rewind that you said Shanahan to smoke one of his alright the floor to smoke one of his friends yeah we're seeing that movie yeah yeah
00:48:23
Speaker
take out Shanahan. Now I could see pulling a Mark Chamorro on, on Shanahan. LeFlore just run over and like lying elbow him in the forehead or something. That would do it for Gilbert Brown, the Versace to go over and like take out his knees or something. I could do it for that. Do it for Gilbert. Do it for Reggie. Do it for, uh, uh,
00:48:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I have to say, the one memory I have about, I want to say it was a 49ers game, was Gabe Wilkins. And I want to say it was in a 49ers game where he recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown. I know he had the one against Tampa, where he picked off a screen or something like that.
00:49:23
Speaker
Yeah, but he did something against San Francisco because then like the next season he was on San Francisco. I can't remember it, but I know he did something against San Francisco. And like I said, they're like the next season because then the next season they played each other and he was getting in like altercations with the Packers. Oh gosh.
00:49:49
Speaker
but all right we better put a bow on this because we're already going way off topic yeah so that'll do it hopefully we're having another fun uh podcast on saturday saturday night but sunday we'll see or sunday but we'll see um we'll see where the packers are able to stack up on this one
Final Thoughts and Fan Engagement
00:50:10
Speaker
Like we said, it's been a super, super just gratifying and bountiful season for the Packers. And I really just hope they can keep it going at this point because you never know how many chances you're going to get
00:50:28
Speaker
None of us thought that Rogers would only win the one Super Bowl that he won. I think a lot of people didn't think Brett would only win the one. So you never know how many bites at the apple you're going to get. So you just got to make as much opportunity at it as you can. So that's going to do it for us tonight on the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. You can follow us on our Twitter accounts. I'm at Koana Mike. Joe is at Iowa underscore Joe 86.
00:50:52
Speaker
Follow the pod at ohana underscore Packers. Remember, we are closing in on our drawing. The last I saw we were like four away or something like that. We're like 30
00:51:04
Speaker
Oh 34 or something. 38? I think we're at like 192 and we're trying to get to 230. Gotcha. So we're getting close. Slowly but surely. Slowly but surely. So you've got to be following the Twitter, the podcast Twitter account, not our individual ones to be eligible to win the drawing.
00:51:26
Speaker
Please check out our website, ohadapackers.org. All our blog posts and all of the streams of our episodes are up on there. Please follow the podcast on your favorite podcasting apps. Give us a like and a subscribe if you're enjoying what you're hearing. And whether it's positive or negative, we enjoy your feedback in the comments because we want to give you the content that you're looking for. Packers go in, like I said, I think, I guess now they're nine and a half dogs going into Santa Clara.
00:51:55
Speaker
nothing to lose. Only upward momentum is possible at this point. So lay it all on the line and just see where the cards lie at the end of the day. That's Iowa Joe. I'm Mike Kawano. I want to say Go Pack Go and Aloha!