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OPE Season 3 Episode 39: The Bears still suck...but do the Packers also suck?
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Mike reviews the Packers' dismal Week 18 showing against the Bears and searches for any bright spots heading into the Wild Card round as Green Bay heads to Philly.
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Transcript
Host flies solo due to illness
00:00:26
Speaker
Aloha
Packers' season recap and upcoming Eagles game
00:00:26
Speaker
and welcome back to another episode of the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. The podcast where I'm flying solo and this one might go down in flames. But unfortunately, Iowa Joe is sick this week. We wish him the best. We hope he's back healthy soon.
00:00:41
Speaker
um kind of goes hand in hand with where the Packers are at this point of the season. The Packers went out with a wet trombone fart ah to close out the 2024 season. They finished with an 11-6 record and they will be the seventh seed. They go to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, ah the 330 Central Time game. And I guess, you know, we'll we'll go over where we... Well, I guess I'll go over how we got there.
00:01:09
Speaker
um You know, this game, this was a Murphy's law situation where, um, you know, the floor set the table that they wanted this to be a get right game. They wanted to reestablish some offensive rhythm, uh, get the passing game going and just have a crisp mistake free game.
00:01:28
Speaker
and None of that occurred from basically the moment the ball was kicked off um on Sunday and Honestly, you know this team hasn't lost games to bad teams this season but they've
Christian Watson's injury concerns
00:01:44
Speaker
told the line several times this season in that regard, you know the game against Jacksonville the first Bears game um they you know, they stuck their hand in the fire to see if it was hot and I Unfortunately, week 18, they found out it was indeed hot and got burned. We'll start with the worst of the news. Unfortunately, Christian Watson is done for the season. LeFlore gave the update that um you know he did indeed tear his ACL. the
00:02:14
Speaker
What's concerning part of it is that some of the updates are saying that there is additional damage and obviously no two injuries are alike but that quote-unquote additional damage is the part that did David Bakhtiari's career and not the ACL itself. um So we'll have to see how Watson recovers from this surgery. um You know, guys that are alien athletes like he is. um There's any kind of extra cartilage damage or other tissue or ligament tendon, whatever, you know any structural issues.
00:02:49
Speaker
That's the kind of stuff that, um you know, leads to just loss of athleticism, career trajectory altering. So, um I mean, the one to reference for Packers fans is when Jevon Walker blew his knee out back in the 2005 season. And obviously I don't expect the Packers to trade Watson like they did Walker back in 2006. But, um you know, Walker had a couple of good seasons after the fact, and then but his knee was just degenerative at that point. so You know, you hate to write the book on Watson, but all you can do is cross your fingers and that he'll be back at some point next season. My best guess is Thanksgiving is the day to look at, you know, I know
Controversy over playing injured Watson
00:03:29
Speaker
some will say like guys return, you know, guys return sooner than nine months and blah, blah, blah, but.
00:03:34
Speaker
It is January, and this is a pretty serious injury based on what, um you know, LeFlore and sources have reported to guys like Ian Rappaport and, you know, to address the elephant in the room of whether Watson should or shouldn't have played. um You know, LeFlore said that Watson requested that if he practiced on Friday, he be in the game. LeFlore also stated that if Dobbs had been had not got in a cold, they probably would have sat Watson. It's just an unfortunate situation. um
00:04:07
Speaker
My stance on it is they needed to get rid of them in this passing game. You hadn't seen a crisp, efficient outing since the Seattle game. The New Orleans game was a blowout, shutout victory. But it was on the back of the run game. The pass game was really inconsistent then. It was really inconsistent against Minnesota. And that's what cost them in the first half of that game, where you go down.
00:04:30
Speaker
20 to three at one point before you really get in the game. And then this week in week 18, you just never really have a chance, you know, Watson and then love gets injured on the same drive. And like it it just really sucks for Watson. You know, he looked like he really had the soft tissue i injuries under control this season. And then he goes down, you know, he has the need proves a week ago and then misses the Minnesota game and then just this, you know, just catastrophe against the Bears. So, um, I know some will say that, you know, it was a mistake that he played and, you know, he toured Sunday, he kind of toured in Philadelphia. Maybe he doesn't tear it, but, you know, you know, if you play it overly cautious,
00:05:15
Speaker
They might not see him again this season and on the regards of the team needs to protect the player from himself angle. This team has not played a full 60 minutes of good football, basically all season. you know They've had a good offensive game, a good defensive game, but overall they haven't played a full complimentary game that just all you know all sides of the ball you know contribute to a win.
00:05:39
Speaker
And from that regard, I do think there was something to gain by playing him in the week 18. Yeah, maybe the seeding wouldn't have mattered and all that kind of stuff. you know Washington probably still wins if with Watson doesn't get hurt. But you guys a lot of people think about it too binary. And that's just not how this works. There's multiple human beings in motion. And they have to be in sync. Watson missed the game. Your past game hasn't been good. And you've got to try and kickstart it. and you know The same people are saying like, oh, they should have been more conservative. They should have protected him. If the Packers come out and have a
Injury updates: Jordan Love and Jalen Hurts
00:06:15
Speaker
first half like they do against Minnesota, you'd all be just as, as, or more pissed that Lafleur didn't start everyone and get the passing game figured out against Chicago. So you can't have your cake and eat it too.
00:06:26
Speaker
It sucks for Watson. It sucks for the team. You just wish him the best and hope that he can make a strong return in 2025 and that his career isn't just altered by this thing. So that's that. On the love front, the Jordan love front, it sounds like it was a funny bone hit.
00:06:42
Speaker
um when he got thrown into the turf after he got the ball to Jacobs. um Lafleur did intimate that they he could have gone back in the game, but they decided to be just extra cautious with it. I do think that's more not wanting the ball to just fall out of his hand because his hand is dumb. you know It's a stinger. You have nerve impulses going down your hand.
00:07:03
Speaker
so Um, they played it safe there. Um, and then two more on Dobbs. They do expect him back this week. He's already back in the building. And another good stroke of the news is, uh, quite Walker, um, looks to be, um, in line to come back against the Eagles and that'd be a big one.
00:07:25
Speaker
The big news on the ego side is that you know Nick Sirianni is still not able to give an update regarding Jalen Hurt's progress through a concussion protocol. And like we discussed, when Quay had his concussion earlier in the season, when Dobbs had his concussion you know that caused him to miss the Miami and Detroit games, there is no linear progression for recovery through concussion protocol.
00:07:53
Speaker
None of these is the same. Everyone's brain is a little different. and um its to i mean Look at Andre Dillard. They didn't know he was concussed until you know he popped up on the injury report the following Wednesday and he's missed two games in a row with a concussion. so um you know, it remains to be seen. And kind of the same thing that we're talking about, you know, should the Packers have tried to get in a passing rhythm, Jalen hurts, even if he does start, he won't have thrown a pass in almost two weeks of time. So, you know, I know Philly is one of the best teams we're going to potentially face in the playoffs, but that
00:08:31
Speaker
is a potential issue that they'll have to work through. um And if for whatever reason he can't play and they're down to Tanner McKee, this is a very winnable game for Green Bay despite the you know deficiencies at corner. but We'll go into our game review. um Not a lot of positives to take out of Sunday's game. um The big one though is I know it ended sourly for them, but the defense really did bow its back for the majority of this game.
00:09:04
Speaker
They held the Bears under 300
Defense vs. underperforming offense and special teams
00:09:07
Speaker
yards of offense. I know time of possession looks like the Packers want it, but it was a really deceiving near 50-50 split. You look at the Packers drives in the second half, and they weren't holding on to the ball at all. they They were barely averaging five yards a series. So that means you sort of get a first down, and then you're like you know four and out, five and out kind of thing.
00:09:32
Speaker
you know after halftime you know these are the Packers drives so five plays after the interception the McKinney interception fumble um eight plays turnover on downs four plays punt four plays touchdown four plays field goal so you know you're not possessing the ball five minutes nine minutes
00:09:58
Speaker
So yeah, in the second half of the game, the Packers are barely at 12 minutes of time of possession. and And the defense held out really as long as it could. until you know chicago breaks a screen pass and then um you know gets the game winning field goal and we'll talk about that later on but you know it's hard to put much on this defense when they're you know put behind the eight ball because special teams lays a dud um and gives up a punt return touchdown on an inexplicable play um
00:10:34
Speaker
Jaden Reed fumbles the ball in plus territory and you know a touch they you know on the quick change the defense gives up a touchdown and then um they create an interception And then um the Packers immediately fumble the ball back because Malik Willis digs into his worst habits, um get the ball back immediately after that, turnover on downs. And then you know the dam could only hold for so long, even against this kind of this kind of a met offense. Because as bad as the Bears are on offense, these kind of, um I call them high school,
00:11:17
Speaker
these kind of high school offenses, the um they tend to, you you know as much as they can be stopped relatively easily, if you're off by one detail, you're screwed on that play. And that's what happened on that DJ Moore touchdown is um they block it up well enough.
00:11:38
Speaker
Jevon Bullard takes a bad angle and it's a touchdown. But um that's what happens when you don't, your offense, which is supposed to be the strength of your team, leaves your defense out to dry. um And some people complaining about the lack of pressure. Again, the Bears were playing one-two throw and it's really hard to generate pressure in those scenarios. I thought,
00:12:04
Speaker
edge cooper had an okay game i know someone said he had all the tackles for loss but he again you know he's supposed to be this dynamic athlete that allows you to do special things in the pocket i know caleb williams is also a special athlete but Edge has not made a significant play as a QB spy on Caleb Williams, and that's supposedly a big reason he's here. um I know he's a rookie, he's got to learn from it, but that's two games that, you know, he's went like 0 for 5 or maybe 1 for 6, but just disappointing to see there because he's had some chances to get him off the field. but And then the final play, unfortunately, for Halfly is just trying to do too much
00:12:46
Speaker
But again, I have a hard time putting that on the defense because your defense creates a fumble and your offense does the least amount of work it could have. Lafleur doesn't burn 30 seconds off the clock when he could have. They kick the field goal to go up 22 to 21, but in a weird way, you lose the game because you don't do You're not playing for the touchdown. You're playing like for a field goal in that scenario. So, um, I thought most of the stuff you saw from the defense was good. Kitano Adapo got his first major snaps of the season. It allowed, um, it allowed Haffley to be a little more multiple with his other safeties. Um, hope, you know, I don't know how much you can expect out of the packers. I don't know if Evan Williams will be back, but I do hope all Adapo continues to get snaps next week. And.
00:13:44
Speaker
Whether Quay is back or not next week, something that um Joe and I talked about last week is let Hopper play. Again, Wilson, McDuffie, they're warriors. They're tough, you know, meathead football players, but they just can't do anything useful in space. They're just, they're just kind of there to be there. They're speed bumps more than they are effective players. So um Just get as much athleticism on the field as you can, especially if McKee is starting. I can understand being a little more on your P's and Q's if Hertz is in and stuff, but I really hope you have Koei back playing Edge more of this now. I think he played over 90% of the game ah get for the second time in two weeks.
00:14:33
Speaker
But um you need athleticism in space, especially because you're down in the secondary. Halfling needs to be able to do more things um in um in his in the middle of the field with his linebackers. Another solid game from Carrington Valentine, who created the fumble that should have won you the game. um But again,
00:14:56
Speaker
um
00:14:58
Speaker
One of the things, you know, everyone's going to point out the final play that he gave up, but that's not totally on Valentine. The only thing he can do there is tackle DJ more at the line of scrimmage and, you know, live with an illegal contact or something at that point. But, you know, it's, it's unfortunate, but that's,
00:15:23
Speaker
When you, you know, the line for this Bears game was 10 and a half for the Packers and you play a shitty game and you let a bad team hang around and you lose the margins, that should leave yourself susceptible too. So obviously you'd like to see Carrington be a little more competitive there, but he has no inside help because the Bears throw this funky formation and the Packers have three safeties at depth. So, um,
00:15:49
Speaker
you just You're setting Carrington up for for failure and you're basically counting on a bad throw.
Malik Willis's performance analysis
00:15:55
Speaker
um But Kenny got the interception off the double pass that never should have been thrown. But um like I said, it didn't get turned into anything. um On the offensive side, it was nice to see that the run game was still viable. um But passing wise, they just couldn't get anything going.
00:16:14
Speaker
And for all the people, you know, Malik Willis, he's done a lot of improvement this season as a passer. You can see the strides he's made from his time in Tennessee to his time in Green Bay, but his worst habits cost the Packers this game, holding onto the ball for eternity instead of getting the ball out of his hands to his playmakers. um You know, he took a sack on the the drive that ended on downs. He took another bad sack on the following drive and then, um,
00:16:45
Speaker
um Yeah, the the strip sack, that's a play that absolutely can't happen. that the The pressure is coming off of his right side, so his vision side. And he just never feels the pressure. And that's gotta be a step up and run or a step up and hit the hot route or something. You've got to know where your protection is set. And you've got to know where you're gonna go with the ball in those situations.
00:17:16
Speaker
So um going on to the stale stuff. um
00:17:25
Speaker
Honestly, not too much was stale about this game because it either was some good and a lot of bad. um I guess there were a few more penalties than you'd like in this game.
00:17:39
Speaker
um you know five for 45 yards when you're dealing with some of the stuff you were at the beginning of the season isn't nearly as
Criticism of Head Coach LaFleur
00:17:47
Speaker
bad, but it's still not an ideal position to be in and you want to just be better at this than Vacker showed. but um So yeah, you just hope that's not a sign of things to come. All right, and on to the boldies.
00:18:06
Speaker
a There's a whole multitude of places to start with this, but yeah the first one we'll go to is La Fleur. and i said this on blue sky after the game and on twitter the floor's biggest problem as a head coach is that he doesn't have mediocre or subpar games as a head coach he's either good to great or he's absolutely setting the flunking grade uh... and he there was just a cavalcade of mistakes on his part uh... time clock management you know as we said after the uh... the Carrington Forest Fung Bowl. He had a chance to um
00:18:50
Speaker
run down the clock more on one on a couple of the plays, but chose to quick snap instead. um The timeout that allowed Chicago to set up their final offensive play was really, really bad. um And then not you know doing something to get another stoppage of play in to reset the down or anything like that. So that's ah you know one of my things is, as a defender, you have to be aware that like if something's not right,
00:19:17
Speaker
someone has to just take an encroachment penalty like five yards isn't going to kill you in that situation and it's better off than giving up the you know 15-yard game that they did that set up the game winning field goal so you got to understand where you are in a game situation and um but Lafleur's got to be better than this he you know He had to challenge a poorly overthrow overthrow overturned play, which was good. But it felt like he just kind of was shell shocked after the Watson and love injuries on offense. And then,
00:19:57
Speaker
um
00:20:01
Speaker
even the final drive so he doesn't run the play clock down on I believe it was second down and then on the third down play you know you're third and three I think you are and he doesn't have Willis at all involved with the play and I understand that Willis is you know he too has like an has hit his funny bone on the previous drop the touchdown drive but You've got to have him in shotgun to give at least the threat of him keeping the ball on that third down play. Because putting him under center is just a dead giveaway that you're running it to the running back and doing nothing else. You've got to create some confusion for those second level defenders and have willless give the look of a zone read.
00:20:52
Speaker
And by not doing so, again, you're just simplifying the game for the opponent. And your team's just not playing well enough to overcome those kind of deficiencies. um And like I said, Olna Olafur is smart. A lot of people were just singing him his praises three weeks ago, but as much as you're going to sing him his praises, he deserves to be criticized when he has bonehead games like this as well. so um he's got to be better. Like I said, you you hope that there's an element of shell shock to this one. And that, um you know, in the playoffs, he'll be better off, but can't continue to be an issue like it
Special teams' ongoing struggles
00:21:33
Speaker
was on Sunday. Of course, it would help if his assistant head coach wasn't just carrying a title in um yeah for vanity's sake.
00:21:45
Speaker
um Visachia, his unit was just absolutely piss poor. um The punt return they give up, you know, Visachia is yelling at Whelan after the play, but someone on that team needs, you're both your gunners are running in the wrong direction, all your trail players are running in the wrong direction. I get that maybe they was called as a punt right, but
00:22:15
Speaker
You're supposed to have mechanisms for rerouting your coverage guys and not just wheeling, yelling, which way he punted the ball. But having negative awareness as a whole unit, they had multiple kick returns where kick coverages, where guys were out of their lanes and gave up returns. um Matt Orzick continues to be an eyesore.
00:22:38
Speaker
um he two bad long snaps, which seems like a low for him in a game. you know The first one was on the first punt where, luckily, um Chicago wasn't rushing and Whelan was able to recover the ball. You know how hard it is to long snap it over a six foot five guy? like That's just inexplicable for a supposed seasoned veteran long snapper.
00:23:06
Speaker
And then on what could have been the game-winning field goal, again, a high-snap-dead wheel, it has to bail Orzix's ass out of, so... I'm just gonna put it nicely. I hope Bassaccio gets hired by someone. That's the floor's out, because... it's just not working. um And then the cant the cherry on top of that is Jaden Reed at Putt Returner, who...
00:23:35
Speaker
is both brisk averse in terms of he doesn't read his blockers well and will fair catch when he's got 15 plus yards of space or if he is catching the punt he's double catching more than he should be and I don't know who on this roster would be better but honestly just put Kishan back there. I know Kishan's had his own punt fielding issues but
00:24:06
Speaker
You're just giving away yards with Reid back there. he you know it's Everyone, and I've had some people point out, it's not Amari Rodgers, but that's not your benchmark. that is that is some That is a line in the sand that's sinking. um Not something to be like, well, he's better than Amari, so he's fine. that No. If you're deficient on defense in certain areas, you've got issues on offense, quick starting, you need every bullet in your pocket to you know you need every round in your mag to be firing and if Reid is gonna frankly look scared back on punt returns you've got to replace him and that is also on Basaccia's back so basically the only part of his game that worked was Whelan and I guess McManus um
00:24:59
Speaker
But the parts of the thing where Orzic was his selection, Reed is at some point his selection to be the punt returner. that's Again, like I said, these are multi-season long issues that we're running into here.
00:25:17
Speaker
and
00:25:20
Speaker
not sure what he's seeing or being paid to see or not to see but it was just really disappointing that we're this far down the rabbit hole and we're still having the same problems so so um just a banner day at the office for basaccia just um you and you this is what happens when you have two phases of your team playing poorly you'll lose to bad teams because you're 66 deficient that's losing football and especially when the bears have on they are the one with the non-offensive touchdown
00:26:05
Speaker
you're going to lose that game nine times out of 10. The Packers were lucky to be in position to win this one. And there's a lot of internal speculate, you know, internal review that's got to go. Like I said, I hope that fate, you know, has it where Bassaccio will get a good interviews. I know he interviews well. He you know has that sort of Dan Campbell energy and stuff.
00:26:32
Speaker
And I hope that the Packers have an easy way out of that one because it's just not working. And the ideal would be, um, the, the Saints sign the statue to be the next head coach and LeFlore can go and get Dan Rizzi, the Darren Rizzi, the guy who he should have been allowed to sign in 2019 when he first came on his head coach. Packers might have a Super Bowl in their back pocket if that was allowed, but you know,
00:27:02
Speaker
No time like now to fix a wrong or a couple wrongs, but um that's it. And then one final dud, moldy dud from the game. Replay assist.
00:27:16
Speaker
took, tried its best to take away a Musgrave reception. And it is absolutely inexplicable. And you know, it's bad when Mike Pereira, who is paid to be a quote unquote expert, but is still in the sanctity of the brotherhood of referees. And for him to flat out say, I have no idea what New York was looking for, you know that they screwed up bad. And for them to rule that past incomplete when there was nothing And I mean nothing that gave the hint that that ball touched the ground. That is an inexcusable mistake. And like Perrer was arguing, I know Loflor had to challenge it, but he, and I'm not sure what ended up happening with the official ruling and stuff, but he should not have been charged with his first challenge for getting that, for correcting the league's mistake.
00:28:10
Speaker
That's the kind of thing that it just makes people question what the hell is going on with referees and New York City and all that kind of stuff. um Outside of that, felt like it was a pretty decently called game, but that's just one of those like, you can't even say it's the human error margin because it wasn't any of the refs on the ground. They called it a catch.
00:28:37
Speaker
And it was the guys with slow-mo replay who were like, no, no, no, like overturn that. And that's just inexplicably poor, um inexcusable. And it it can't happen again, like.
00:28:52
Speaker
I know it will because the NFL is stupid like that but that's one of those where if it happened to like you know the Lions or the Vikings or the Eagles or the Chiefs there would be an immaculate uproar about it but because it's in a game that quote-unquote doesn't matter no one's gonna blink you know no one's gonna bat an eye about it but I've never seen that before and yeah like I said I was with Pereira where it's like Fleur should get his challenge back because that's hogwash. But ah that's like I said Murphy's Law. You should get all of that. You you know, you give a dumb punt return for a touchdown.
00:29:34
Speaker
You don't move the ball on offense. You lose Christian Watson to a really unfortunate injury. Love goes down with the elbow stinger. Willis can't complete the two point conversion because he suffers his own elbow stinger. You don't manage the clock well on your final drive. And then you, um you know, the defense just cracks at the end because it's been, like I said, at that point, you're,
00:30:00
Speaker
17 to 12 in time of possession. And that 12 is a really deceiving 12 minutes because it's not a the the drives the Packers are on. They're not long. It's not like they had one like 10 play drive that milked like six minutes. No, they're four minutes, three minutes, two minutes.
00:30:19
Speaker
five I think was the long on the turnover on downs and so like you're not even possessing the ball you're just getting you're playing ping pong with it you're just sending it right back to the Bears and um I know the floor after the game said that there were some impassioned speeches I really i do hope it was people on the defense basically calling out the other 35 players on the team who did nothing but get glorified um conditioning work because
00:30:46
Speaker
it it was just really disappointing to see how this team played overall. um Like I said, the defense played 95% a pretty good game in my eye. And unfortunately, they're the ones holding the bill because they were the last ones on the field, but they were hung out to dry, particularly in the second half of this game by this offense that refused to do anything with any of the multiple opportunities that the defense gave them. So um really disappointing game from the Packers. Obviously it has to be for you to lose to the Bears at this point in the season.
00:31:21
Speaker
um Going into Philadelphia, like I said, I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. The majority of the hopes hang on. Will Jalen Hurts play? And if he does, what does he look like? If he doesn't, can Green Bay scrape together enough stops on defense to get there to give their offense time to get in rhythm?
00:31:45
Speaker
losing Watson hurts your ability to attack this Philadelphia div defense. so But, you know, everyone's pointing out like, oh, Green Bay loves EPA on man pass man coverage passing plays is slightly positive with Watson on the field and pretty negative with him off the field. But to me, that's just the sign that La Flora needs to scheme his game plan around his two what should be his two man coverage beaters in Musgrave and Kraft.
00:32:16
Speaker
I don't care how good of an athlete a linebacker is, he shouldn't be able to cover either of those guys, especially Kraft. Must grave a little bit easier because he's more straight-linish, but still, um those are two guys with their athleticism and movement skills. They should be able to create separation.
00:32:33
Speaker
and then You build the Jaden Reed looks off of those two guys. You use Dobbs as that second um hinge point that to pull primary coverage to allow Reed to run into voided areas. um Use Meltin as a deep threat. um Use Heat's ability to high point the ball. like This is one of those games where the floor can't be afraid to throw the kitchen sink because what have you got to lose? um Your season ends if you don't win this game. And for all those, you know, keeping things in the back pocket, stuff like that.
00:33:16
Speaker
um You know, this is kind of it you know not this is kind of it. This is it. You win or you go home. And Green Bay is not going to play a home game the rest of these playoffs. um you know that's the That's the dice. you so you know That's the way the cookie crumbles when you refuse to win important games on your schedule.
00:33:38
Speaker
um And it's going to be an uphill battle. you know their Their path is going to be. ah Philadelphia, if they win, they'll play the Lions. And if they happen to beat that, they're going to play somewhat from the 3, 5, 6 side of the bracket.
00:33:58
Speaker
um
00:34:01
Speaker
It'll be a tall order. This team, you know, some people are saying the season's over. Why play the game and stuff? I already pointed out why you play it. Hurts might not play. If he does, he still could be a little out of it. um Sure, the Packers could get swamped, but. There's a old adage that Vegas knows and Vegas has this as of at least as of now, they still have the spread as a three and a half.
00:34:29
Speaker
um In favor of Philadelphia, which given how these two teams are playing that spread should be a lot bigger than that um At this point, so the fact that Vegas is keeping it as close of a spread Yes, see it's for right now on ESPN that the fact that it's within that much of a margin Me shows that you still don't know what exactly is gonna go on. um In this one, there's question of who will play.
00:35:04
Speaker
um And yeah, you'll you'll have to, and also A.J. Brown is dealing with a knee and you know he'll probably be healthy and fine to go this week, but
Packers' playoff challenges and strategies
00:35:17
Speaker
um we'll see where that happens that happens to go.
00:35:23
Speaker
Like I said, there's a lot of conditionals, but this team isn't playing the kind of efficient or proficient football that you should be expecting sunshine and rainbows from any preview. There's a path, and it's not solely dependent on hurts not playing, Brown being um injured or limited. It's not solely dependent on that. Those will help but significantly um in this scenario, but Overall, you're the road dog for a reason. And a lot of it is because you haven't performed up to par in the big games. This team is still a top five team by DVOA, obviously losing Watson hurts in that regard. But um there's some reasons to be optimistic about the Packers chances. We've seen them score on this defense on a field that wasn't to their liking, see them create negative plays that were in their advantage.
00:36:22
Speaker
and You've got to have some confidence that with Cooper playing more of the game, hopefully, like I said, Koya is back as Leflore kind of pointed to that, you know, this was the whole plan was to get him back, you know, hopefully sooner, but if not, they would get him back for this week. um And it's, you know, you Like I said, the door is not shut on the Packers win in this game. There is a path. It's a narrow path. And the Packers have been prone to slipping off and falling into the abyss this season in a big game. But um if love can get it going, that would be a massive, massive step in the right direction. You need this O-line to play well. This is going to be a hostile environment.
00:37:10
Speaker
um something that we talked about after the Minnesota game, get to the line of scrimmage, get your place set, and be ready to, you know, snap the ball with five seconds left. That way you can use your hard count or quick snap because they might be expecting you to snap the ball at zero seconds. So, um you know, throw the kitchen sink if you're on the floor. Same for Halfly.
00:37:37
Speaker
You know, you've kind of put it on tape that you're going to be in this softer umbrella coverage. You're going to play it a little bit safer. and so
00:37:46
Speaker
You've got to throw in some man looks. Having Kway and Cooper on the field and hopefully some, um whether it's Oladapo or Hopper, you know, having more athletic guys than you had in week one, taking up more of the snaps.
00:38:03
Speaker
You've got to utilize that. And I know that you're banged up in the secondary, but you've got to utilize whatever tools you've got in the chest. and just kind of live with the results. I don't expect the pass rush to do too much. this game simply is If plays, I don't expect the pass rush to do much because um they're going to be mush rushing to keep him in the pocket. you can't let him you know Especially if he's rusty because he hasn't played in a couple of weeks.
00:38:33
Speaker
you've got to let you can't let him get comfortable by running outside the pocket for you know easy throws easy conversions you got to keep him contained and um eliminate his legs as part of the equation so um expect the packers to do that and um
00:38:51
Speaker
play the run better than you did in week one. um They can do it. like I'm not going to talk myself into expecting the Packers to win, but like I said, the they're down Jair. I get that. They're down Watson. I get that. But love should play this game.
00:39:08
Speaker
He is due for a big postseason. He really is. Like, this season has been an absolute slog. Not all of it has been his fault necessarily. Yes, he can always play better, but no better time than now.
00:39:22
Speaker
um
00:39:24
Speaker
I'm not confident in the special teams. I do think that Halfly can draw some stuff up. He just has to, I don't want to say trust, but just live with what he's got.
00:39:36
Speaker
because he ain't getting better pieces now, that's got to wait to the offseason to see if he can. He's got to just make do with what he's got. And I hope we see a more aggressive game plan out of him, where you know he's not just relying on soft coverage and stuff because it's not going to work against this Eagles offense, especially if Brown is any kind of healthy in this game. So you've got to be more aggressive. And on Packers on offense, trust who you are.
00:40:03
Speaker
um get Jacobs going but also don't wait to get Love going in this game. um I know that Lincoln Financial or whatever they call Philly Stadium now, I know it's a hostile environment but it'll still be a better playing field than it was in Brazil early to start the season. so um and don't miss on your opportunities you know what cost them in week one you get two turnovers early in the game in your own in Philadelphia's own end you turn it into only six points can't have that happen you've got to be scoring touchdowns if you get opportunities is against this Eagles team and they can be had they really can like
00:40:42
Speaker
I know it was mainly because Hertz got injured, but they so their defense still gave up a lot to ah to that Washington offense. And the Packers have similar pieces to that Washington offense. Like I said, LeFlore, be creative with your tight ends, utilize Dobbs, utilize Reed as a secondary playmaker that's playing off of the action of your tight ends and Dobbs running those digs and other kinds of um primary routes.
00:41:14
Speaker
And, you know, get back to more heavy play action and stuff like that. Like, I don't, I feel like the floor has gone so run heavy that parts of his counters off of the run actions, he's gotten away from those. And we've lost some of that in the offensive late. So we haven't seen a lot of his dagger concepts or the, the counters off of daggers. So, um, a return to that would be nice, but, um,
00:41:43
Speaker
yeah. Like I said, it's a narrow path, but Green Bay has one. And they just got to take it one week at a time. Step one, get your offense figured out. Get love playing well. That'll be the biggest key to this game. Because theyre if he's playing like he has the last three weeks, they don't have a chance in hell. like it's It's as simple as that.
00:42:02
Speaker
but If you um get a little, you know, you get love in rhythm, you get some movement from your your receiving options, you can score on this Eagles defense. You still have enough talent, more than enough talent without Watson to do that.
00:42:18
Speaker
um And you can create enough confusion on defense to get stops, get some turnovers, because, you know, Hertz will put the ball in harm's way. McKee is not necessarily good at taking care of the ball. And if Kenny Pickett plays, yeah, we all know what his career has been. So. um
00:42:39
Speaker
Just be aggressive. that's That's got to be the mantra. I know the coaching staff has said it at different points, but now is the time to really live and die by that. Because if you don't hear, you're never going to. so um That's going to do it for us today. Like we said, ah main thing off the top. Joe, hope you're feeling better soon oh so that you're able to do the ah editing. This one's going to come out pretty raw um because
00:43:12
Speaker
um Joe usually handles that. I'll do my best with what I've got, but um it's not going to have his same TLC on top of it. But Joe, hope you're feeling better. Everyone, please check out our website, ohanapackers.org. Check out our merch um that Joe will be getting back to when he's not coughing a lung up at the moment. ah Check out our blog post, Carlos Silva is putting out new material every week. I'm in the off season. Joe and I will probably be putting out our own material and Whatever the packer season ends, whether it's this Sunday or hopefully in another month, another five weeks, um we'll be putting together our draft series. So that'll be coming to fruition as well. um So keep an eye out for that. Please follow the podcast on your favorite social medias at ohana underscore packers on Twitter at ohana packers edition on Instagram.
00:44:07
Speaker
Search Ohana Packers Edition on Facebook. um Please follow the podcasts on your favorite podcast podcasting app. Please give us a like and a subscribe if you're enjoying what you're hearing. And whatever you're thinking, any comments you've got for us, please give it please send them in. We want to make sure we're creating the
Packers as underdogs in playoffs
00:44:24
Speaker
content you're looking for. packers and The the regular season about as poorly as you can. But you know what? It's 0-0 when they roll the ball out on Sunday.
00:44:36
Speaker
and you've punched your ticket to the postseason and it's anyone's game at this point. um Yes, the Packers are the underdog, but they're not as big of an underdog as you'd expect them to be with how good the Eagles have been and how poorly the Packers have played the last two weeks. So, like I said, there is a path.
00:44:57
Speaker
Um, and we'll see if that the Packers, if Jordan Love and LaFleur can exploit it, um, or if it's going to be a short run this season. So, um, wishing Iowa Joe the best. I'm Mike Kawano, Go Pack Go, and Aloha.