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OPE Season 3 Episode 36 Packers vs. Vikings: Clash of the Rivals 2.0!
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Aloha and welcome to another episode of OPE! on this episode we preview the upcoming showdown between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers! We discuss the injury report, key matchups and do some over/unders!
Be sure to like and subscribe wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Also, check out our website ohanapackers.org for all our latest articles, past episodes and our merch shop!
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Transcript
Intro
Podcast Introduction and Overview
00:00:20
Speaker
Aloha and welcome back to another episode of the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas we are catching you on the 26th with this episode as we preview the Vikings. Joe and I are recording this on Monday.
Postgame Review and Injury Concerns
00:00:34
Speaker
We're back to backing it literally with our postgame review of the Monday Night Game. I'm getting deja vu right now.
00:00:42
Speaker
yeah It's all fresh in our minds, but so we don't have our usual first practice look in. I guess it's kind of similar to what we're coming off of last week where, you know, because the Packers played on Monday night, um didn't practice till Thursday. So it's kind of similar here where we don't have a good view Like we talked about in the previous episode, as of the time we're recording, LaFleur has been mum on what Christian Watson's status is going into next week, because you know he came out of the game with the injury and that he's going to need to undergo more testing. so
00:01:21
Speaker
we'll know by the time that you're listening just we'll know a little bit more about his status but we're hoping that it is a charlie horse and it's nothing too bad and it's something that you know he just needs to ice and recover a bit from as the week goes and it'll be good to go on coming Sunday against Minnesota and one that needs definitely needs more light shed on is the Evan Williams situation where He came up lame on Saturday. Lafour mentioned that it was like first play of practice kind of injury and it is going to take you know potentially a multi-week recovery period. so
00:01:57
Speaker
We'll see the safety position is a little thin right now, especially as we await. You know, like I said at this time, we don't know what bullet status is going to be for week 17. So the pack room and the only guess we can have is he's week to week. We know he was out for the Saints game and he could be back for the Minnesota game, but we're not sure on it.
00:02:17
Speaker
Yeah so um the the good thing with Bullard is he was working with the rehab group but to what extent that is we don't know so hopefully there's good news on him and like I said good news on Christian and more promising news on Evan Williams status because I think you can only go back to the Zayn Anderson will so many times before you get burnt. So, hoping that Kitan Oladapo is another week more ready to play. Hopefully, like, Teron Hopper can play a few more snaps this week. And, you know, maybe Kuei is another one. You know, hopefully he's, you know, ah he's back sooner than later. But I do think, you know, we saw it with Jair where
00:02:58
Speaker
they rule him out of monday night's game and i do think the team is being extra cautious with him after um week 11 attempt to bring him back on a limited snap count blew up in their face And know Wayne Laravy had the comments pregame where they said that, yeah, he's just not quite moving as well as they want him to. But we'll see
Vikings vs. Packers Playoff Implications
00:03:19
Speaker
how that plays out. Because really at this point, we know who the Vikings are. They still have the Black Voodoo Magic going at this point. And they and the Lions refuse to lose any games. But
00:03:33
Speaker
Packers have a slim chance to make it to the fifth seed, but it's not in their hands. they They're gonna need some help along the way Yeah, no kid voodoo magic for the Vikings I watched a little bit of that game and darnold was just ah ah It remind and I know this is gonna send said a lot of people's PTSD off but it reminded me a lot of the 2014 NFC Championship game where Russell was just throwing them up and they just happened to be landing where they needed to land. They weren't directed and that's the same thing. Darnold was doing Sunday. He was just throwing it and it just happened to go where it needed to go. That just goes to show that they have a better wide receiver core than they do a quarterback because had they had a wide receiver core like the Saints, Darnold would be nothing. So, yeah.
00:04:27
Speaker
he's He's probably going to make some money in the off season, but it's not going to do him any good unless it's still with the frigging Vikings. And they would be foolish to do that with your boy JJ McCarthy coming back from base. Honestly, that like that's kind of one of the more unique angles from what this game and this season means for the Vikings. Because yeah, it's like, do you go? And that's the thing is, it's not like Darnold is even a sure thing.
00:04:55
Speaker
this is by leaps and bounds, the best season he's played in his career. You know, he's had pockets where you're kind of like, Oh, there's, he's a good quarterback and stuff. And then like you said, with Carolina, he's tailed off, he tailed off. And with the jets, it was seeing ghosts and,
00:05:14
Speaker
it's just yeah It's really hard to tell how real this is and how much of it is. you know the whole with like you know Everyone talks about Patrick Mahomes and his interception luck. like it I agree with you that it feels like there's a bunch of plays every week where, like you said, where the ball has a magnet in it or homing capabilities where it just kind of finds its way through um arms and limbs and just happens to get to Justin Jefferson. and you know Like you said, honestly, that speaks more to who Jefferson is, who Jordan Addison is. Yeah, and and to an extent, even the return of T.J. Hopkinson has just given him another kind of relief valve option on that offense.
00:06:01
Speaker
You know, not too much has changed but between the two games. I know it's like well over a third of the season since the two teams played because it was way back in a week four. But really the only big difference for either team is just health. So like on the Viking side of things, Christian Daresaw is not playing. You know, he's done for the season, blew his knee out. I think like the week after we played him. And for the Packers,
00:06:29
Speaker
We're throwing up hypotheticals because we don't know what our secondary is going to look like. We don't know what our linebacker core is going to look like necessarily. i And we don't know about Christian Watson. Everyone else is relatively healthy for the Packers. And even for the the Vikings, they don't have they have a relatively short injury list. so Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see who is available and stuff. And that's the thing, too, is like, so even I think Harrison Smith missed the game against us Seattle, but all indications are he's going to be able to play against us this coming Sunday. So, yeah.
00:07:15
Speaker
Like I said, it's a little hard to do the projections because we don't know who's even practice at this point this week. But hey, we're recording this early because it's Christmas in a couple days and we're not, we're being in the cheery holiday spirit. So yeah, Joe, anything that's
Player Performance and Strategy Discussion
00:07:33
Speaker
sticking out to you. One thing I will disagree with you on, there is one major difference between The first time the Packers played the Vikings and this time they played the Vikings. Jordan Love is fully health. Well, maybe not fully healthy, but he's more healthy than he was in the first game and he's like moving around better. He's making more. Yeah, he's moving around better. He's making plays better. He's throwing better. You know, it's a lot of big difference than the first meeting. So that right there is.
00:08:09
Speaker
You know night and day because we saw how well he was doing just as hurt as he was in the first game You know now with him be oh No, no go for it. Go for it. Oh, I was just gonna say now that you know, he's even healthier You know, it could be a lot closer And the funny thing that was is, you know, like a lot of the, you know, the the whole thing with the early part of the season, it was like, oh, love has really regressed against the blitz. And it's like, no, he just can't move. So like he's throwing the ball earlier or just, you know, it's he's not able to put the ball in the right placement or he's throwing it earlier than he wants to and stuff. So, yeah, it's it's not a direct correlation to why, you know, it's not
00:08:54
Speaker
The blitz is the reason why, like you said, it's health, it's having his feet uncomfortably under him, literally and figuratively. And you know you hope that Watson's able to go because he does provide an option that really stresses what Minnesota likes to do on defense with his speed. But and yeah that first game it wasn't even his injury that I'm sure it you know by the fact that he was hurt he wasn't as um fundamentally sound throwing the ball but there was just some weird ball bounce luck you know both interception wise and like just drops and all that kind of stuff so
00:09:38
Speaker
and i think as we're recording the vikings are only one and a half point favorites going into this game so that kind of shows like where vegas is sort of viewing this game obviously that line is likely to move pending injury updates regarding uh christian watson evan williams kway walker jevon bullard you know jahir just seeing you know where any of those five guys are going into this game i do wonder if Jair will be able to go this week. It helps that it's an indoor dome situation. But the comments that LaraV had prior to Monday night's game where you know they he flat out said that the team overall is is
00:10:25
Speaker
pleased with where he's at and they're you know they're they're treating it with kid gloves. But Wayne did kind of mention that they've noted, you know, they're doing film review of Jair's practice film and they're seeing that there's a distinct lack of explosiveness and in his movement. So, you know,
00:10:46
Speaker
i I'm not here to say I'm not an expert enough in anything medical to say like a week is enough time and stuff but you hope that another week and then the fact that they're not playing outdoors in the elements you know they're in the dome in Minnesota in the bird killer hope that perhaps the the controlled climate allows Jair to be more um mobile this week so Yeah, it's funny. I do think they're going to practice inside of Hudson because there's no real point to practicing outdoors in the elements this week. yeah, like I said, a lot of hypotheticals because we're recording this so early and we don't have a lot of medical updates at this point in time.
00:11:34
Speaker
You know, we've We're seeing the defense progress a little bit more, getting a little bit more comfortable with their stuff. And that should help out a little bit more. Yes, the injuries, but.
00:11:48
Speaker
You also got to, and I think everybody else got to remember that the Packers love to play these games when it comes to injuries. They don't play games with the injuries themselves, but they play games with the, the statuses. So yeah, we're, we're still kind of keeping an eye on Jair. We're, you know, we're at this point.
00:12:08
Speaker
could mean that we're just holding him out of the Saints game. That way he's fully ready for the Vikings game. Not saying that's happening, but that's the type of thing the Packers are known for is to, you know, to up play these injuries. So it looks worse than what it actually is when it goes into that game week. So the whole Jevon Bullard is week to week. Maybe it was a one week injury and he'll be back for the Vikings game.
00:12:38
Speaker
Evan Williams, you know, he was listed as questionable bull because of the quadricep. They didn't really make him. He wasn't fully out until game time. If, if you understand what I'm meaning, he was questionable going there, but it wasn't until game time that it was a game time decision. He could be back for the, the Minnesota game. you know, but it is what it is.
00:13:06
Speaker
I'm a little bit more comfortable with where the Packers are at the moment. guess we do have to mention they did flex the game. So it is now the 325 game and not the noon game or like seven o'clock in the morning for Mike or whatever it is, you know, over there. ah So, you know, it,
00:13:29
Speaker
Like I said, I'm a little bit more comfortable with this game than I am, than I was with the first matchup. Yeah, that's what, like you said, health and certainty with love status covers up a lot of issues with that. so it's Yeah, that's the trade off. So like you said, you know, we can just turn this into a what we want to see, you know, the the injuries make it hard to tell, but you just don't want to see them get dog walked up and down the field on defense. You'd like to see them, you know, I don't expect them to create a lot of sacks this game necessarily because Darnold is playing so confidently and almost
00:14:10
Speaker
dutch courage in terms of like you said where he's kind of just putting the ball up and trusting jefferson and adison to be you know superstars and able to just reel in his sort of almost yolo balls in some senses because yeah like that's the quarterback you know that he is you know he is another of the quote unquote gunslinger type and stuff so you know you just hope to see that you know McKinney will be able to get another interception off of him. Maybe Nixon can get one because you know he's playing a little more freely and a little better in coverage.
00:14:49
Speaker
but yeah like It's that's the so that's what I want to see on defense. I'm not expecting them to shut down. The Vikings offense is wishful thinking at this point, especially if they're going to be missing players at the second and third level of the defense. But just, you know, halfly continuing to be aggressive, but not just getting, you know, bushwhacked up and across the field by O'Connell's offense and then offensively. push you know push the ball downfield, take advantage of Floyd's attacking scheme, and just continue to show, like you said, that just be another game better than you were last week. They played really well. you know Like I said, the first three drives, bing, bang, boom, you had three touchdowns, you were up 21 to nothing. But then, you know whether it's a lack of efficiency, just a lack of precision, or
00:15:47
Speaker
taking your foot off the gas, because like I said, the saints didn't want to be there and you just didn't want to get any more injuries, you know especially after Watson got dinged up. So, you know, it's a combination of all three of those things, but just try and, you know, do what you couldn't do back in week four. And that's play clean football.
00:16:07
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, no soft coverage, make sure you're, you know, do what has been giving you success. more than doing what, you know, I guess that's the obvious take to what gives you more success, a little bit more of your, you you know, your press, your man coverage, stuff like that. Don't go into the soft coverage. Cause we know that doesn't work with, with these types, with the players on this team.
00:16:37
Speaker
I have to give Aikman credit. He was really raving a little bit about, uh, Halfly's defense, especially when it came to, uh, Zane Anderson's interception because Zane or and both Zane and Carrington like swapped out, you know, Carrington went into safety mode and Zane went into corner mode and, you know, flip flop back and forth. So.
00:17:05
Speaker
Hopefully we don't have to see Zane out on the field, but you know, if, if that's what they're able to do, you know, go for it, you know, and of course you hope the pass rush will be there because the minute, you know, Darnold panics, we know that. yeah So get the rush on him. Uh, that's another thing I think wasn't Devontae Wyatt out for the Vikings game, the first matchup. I think so. He was either out or he was banged up.
00:17:36
Speaker
So that'll be another one. I don't know. I suppose I can go back and look at him. But I don't even remember who was all in and out for that game. sin oh move you or I think got hurt.
Predictions and Tactical Analysis
00:18:01
Speaker
He either got hurt that game or Yeah, he got hurt that game. I don't remember exactly at what point, but yeah, at some point in that Minnesota game, he got hurt and then he didn't come back till the Jacksonville game. It must've been early on because he only played 25 snaps.
00:18:24
Speaker
So yeah, so having him back healthy should have defensive line. You know the rotation that they're working on with the edge rushers should help out a lot Right now we're flying by the seat of our pants because we don't know what to talk about because it is early So, do you know just deal with it So, yeah, I I mean let's do some quick over unders and then we'll call it good so you can get back before Marisol kills us both So
00:18:59
Speaker
I know I do this weekly, but I'm going to do it again because of the ranking that the Vikings. oh Defense is. And I think according to this, they're like fifth and run defense, so we're going to do over under 65 and a half for Josh Jacobs. I think we're going to go over and I think because
00:19:28
Speaker
This is one of those games you save him for, if that makes sense. And it might not be the most efficient, but I think they're going to get there because I think they they need him too. For sure. And I would i just happened to have it pulled up because I was trying to look for the injury report for that game. ran for 51 yards in that first meeting. I think with Jordan Love being back or near 100% with his stuff, that'll open things up a little bit more. And cause I mean, even being hurt, he still threw for 389 yards that game. and with the so receivers dropping like 14 passes or whatever the hell it was. Right. And he threw three interceptions too. So,
00:20:19
Speaker
So I'm going to go over with it. and This must be boring for anybody that listens because we tend to agree on these way too often. but if he went for 51 the first time around with as many times as they had to throw the ball because of how down they got. You got to imagine he's going to go for even more with, the with a more comfortable line and, and love being back to where he should be. Plus, I think Toyota thought still going on. So I think we're good.
00:20:54
Speaker
to to two two to Let's do over under two and a half sacks for the Packers defense. I think it's going to be under. But I think that's because they're going to the pressure is going to be there. And I think they're going to force Darnold into a couple mistakes. But I don't think they'll actually get the sacks.
00:21:14
Speaker
This one, I think we are going to disagree on because I think they'll hit the three mark and I think it's because they they're more comfortable with what they're doing. so what their last meeting was week four, we were four weeks into a new system, you know, well, I guess technically seven weeks into a new system because, but whatever,
00:21:37
Speaker
But they were into a new system for a short amount of time. Now they're getting more comfortable with it. We've seen what they did against Miami. you know They did put pressure on on golf in Detroit.
00:21:56
Speaker
We just saw what they did with the Saints. They're getting home. it's just I think they're more comfortable. I do think they're going to hit it about the 3 mark. If they get more, then they're definitely going to win this game. But I'm going to say they hit the 3 mark.
00:22:16
Speaker
Let's see, one more. What can I come up with one more? Let's do this one. Uh,
00:22:30
Speaker
over under one and a half rushing yards for Tucker craft. I'm going to go under. You don't think they're going to use them for the, the newly minted craft single. They only need one yard usually. So that would still be under. I think what they're setting up is.
00:22:55
Speaker
What was the ones that they used to do with was it with Finley where it was like a not necessarily a jet sweep, but it was like he was lined up as a half as a full bag and then it was like a side pitch to him. Oh.
00:23:18
Speaker
Yeah. It's almost like that, that quick arrow route, like the one that they run to like, uh, the receiver and the two guys are blocking kind of thing. It's kind of like that play. Yeah. It almost feels like they're trying to set up for something like that. So I'm going to go over, I'm going to say he hits about the three Mark. And that's about all I got unless there's something else you want to throw in there.
00:23:43
Speaker
No, i'm I'm good. Yeah, like Mike's dead. His kids are running him ragged right now.
00:23:54
Speaker
But yeah, otherwise.
Holiday Fun and Conclusion
00:23:57
Speaker
So since this is coming out after Christmas, we have to go ahead and ask it. Well, there's two questions I'm going to ask. How many diamonds did you get Marisol? None because I'm not made out of gold. Oh,
00:24:12
Speaker
don't give me that shit. I know you're saying that because she's there right now. So I'm going to throw out a number, blink one for yes or two for no. Okay. Three times. I'm just, I'm just blinking away because it's no, no matter what. And then favorite Christmas movie. And I don't care if you consider diehard Christmas movie or get a lethal weapon or whatever, but there is a right answer on this and this may determine our partnership moving forward. It's probably die hard. Well, thank you for coming to our last episode of the Ohana Packers edition of podcast.
00:24:57
Speaker
I will be looking for a new podcast partner here in the short time. To me, I don't care. I've never watched die hard, but the only answer and the true answer is a Muppet Christmas Carol.
00:25:10
Speaker
Oh, that's a good one. That is a good one. I think that's the only thing me and Aaron Alice all actually agree on for the most part is that's the greatest movie ever. And it's the only Christmas movie I tend to watch. So I mean, i've I've seen a lot of them. You know, I do like the Santa Claus and stuff like that. But if if you're going to put me and say you have to watch this Christmas movie. That's the one I'm going to go to, because that one for being a Muppet movie is one of the most amazing Muppet movies you've probably ever watched.
00:25:47
Speaker
good You probably should have done that all on the first episode. but you know, hey, we're both dead tired and we're trying to rush through things. Yep. So that's going to do it for this one. You know, if we just follow us on the social medias at ohanapackers at ohana underscore packers on Twitter, we'll be tweeting out if there's any whenever there are any updates regarding status of the players that we mentioned before. the time this episode comes out, we should have some kind of update on Christian Watson.
00:26:18
Speaker
I think the team, well, that's the thing is I'm not even sure what days the team is practicing, but I guess they've got to practice on Christmas because they just, you know, it's a short week for them coming off the Monday night game, going into Sunday night. And the big thing, you know, like I said, I don't, I don't think they'll get into the fifth seed just because even if they beat Minnesota, need Minnesota to lose in weeks 18. And if,
00:26:48
Speaker
Detroit doesn't lose this week against the Niners. Detroit really won't have much to play for come week 18 because since the Eagles blew it against the Redskins or the commanders this past week, they have like a two game lead basically. I know it's only one in the standings but they basically have only a one game or two game lead because they have all the tiebreakers against the Eagles. And if the Packers beat the Vikings,
00:27:15
Speaker
coming this coming Sunday, the Lions will have nothing to play for in week 18. So really the big i didn disagree with you because I don't think Dan Campbell's the type of coach that is going to that is true. People that is true. The and but my whole thing is just don't fall into the seven seed and not for what you're thinking of in terms of the matchup it's more that if you're the seven seed there's the outside chance that you have to play the stupid monday night game monday night wild card game and then if you win which shouldn't be
00:27:53
Speaker
You know, it'll be tough because you're probably playing, Philadelphia, but if you do win, then you're on a short week going to Detroit or Minnesota. And could you imagine it? Wildcard game versus Philadelphia. Then let's just say by miracle, you'd go against in the division and it, you know, I think, what is it? Atlanta has an outside shot at the playoffs.
00:28:21
Speaker
Could you yeah imagine that going Philly and then Atlanta for the second game and then end up going against an NFC North team for the conference championship? Yeah. So or actually, no, they would play. They would play because it would be like last year where they played Dallas, the number two seed, and then they played the Niners, the number because if you're if you're the seven seed, you're playing the best team remaining every time. So they would play whichever one of Detroit or the Lions won the ah division. the following so the my main thing is like don't get put in the position where you're playing that stupid monday night game because it's very likely that the nfl is stupid and is like uh doesn't matter you played monday night you're playing the saturday game kind of thing so don't get screwed by the potential schedule so you got to keep winning to stay out of that seven seed but anything else joe or are you good for tonight
00:29:16
Speaker
I'm good. Just make it a good game and come out of it healthy because we do have the bears after that. Not that the bears are scary, but we can't give them anything more to chirp about. so yep Please check out the website, ohanapackers.org, support the channel, buy our merch.
00:29:33
Speaker
Joe is going to just, you know, with every win, there's a new quote that comes out from the players and Joe's going to put it on a shirt, a mug, a t-shirt, a sweater, a hat. So keep your eyes closed. The last one I came up with Dobbs, I think is the best thing I i ever came up with. and I don't know how many of you remember the joy of painting and Bob Ross with his happy little accidents. This one was a happy little accident and that damn thing turned out amazing. So go buy it.
00:30:02
Speaker
So check that out, check out the merch, support us, support our writers. Follow the podcast on your social medias, at ohana underscore packers on Twitter, at ohanapackers edition on Instagram, and just search us on Facebook. Follow the podcast on your favorite podcasting apps. Give us a like and a subscribe if you're enjoying what you're hearing. And positive or negative comments, please give them all to us so that we can create the content you're looking for.
00:30:30
Speaker
Like we said, we hope you all had a Merry Christmas. The Packers gifted us a playoff a spot in the playoffs, and we're hoping that they can give us another big win against the Vikings, just like they did last year. But until then, for Iowa Joe, I might gopa go Pack Go Aloha and Happy Holidays, everyone.