Packers penalties, undefeated Vikes and more

Only one undefeated team remains in the NFL. That's the Vikings who are off to a 6-0 start while the rest of the NFC North is above 500. Hello everyone and welcome into First and North. I'm Cassie Carlson. Joining me this week on the show we have the voice of the Lions, Dan Miller. We have Pierre Nugent from Fox Minneapolis and from Fox Milwaukee we have Brian Poulsen who is filling in for Tim, Lily and Brandon who are all down in Tampa as the Brewers are just one win away from their first World Series in franchise history. Brian, welcome to the Sportsbeat. This is a fun show, but I'm sure it's even more fun in Milwaukee right now. This is a blast. And by the way, you've got the fourth string. I'm like a center for the Packers right now. Yeah, it's a blast in Milwaukee right now. And what I find so fascinating is people who don't really follow baseball all that closely are wrapped up in the moment because this is obviously history in the making. And people who might follow games here or there or don't really care so much about the ins and outs of baseball, they're wrapped up because baseball is timeless baseball is about marking time and you think of all the people who maybe have a grandfather or grandmother who remember the 1957 world series that the milwaukee braves won or people who recall 1982 or were born after 82 and this is their first shot at seeing the brewers win a world championship the vibe is incredible and it feels a little bit like we're in the middle of a month-long wisconsin holiday yeah lily sent out a tweet last week we You're making fun of it. It was day after day after day, something going on in the state of Wisconsin. Let's start with Minneapolis and you, Pierre, because 6-0. Harrison Smith seals the game, picking off Daniel Jones as the Colts attempt a game-winning drive. The defense is one of, if not the best unit in football. We know it's Brian Flores' style of play with the unique pressures, but what else stands out to you that makes this defense so good? Boy, Cassie, I tell you, where do you even begin? Second in total defense, first in points allowed, And I say first in points allowed, and it's by a wide margin. And this Vikings defense seems to get it done on a weekly basis. I think a lot of Bears fans even remember that they made Caleb Williams look average for three and a half quarters back in week two. But I think we also need to put a little bit of context here. And with the last four games, not exactly the stiffest competition, Saints, Dolphins, Bucs, and the Colts, neither one of those teams are ranked higher than 21st in total offense. Now, if you ask me, do I think that they can keep this up against some of the upper echelon teams in the NFL? Absolutely, I think they do. They are doing it in so many different ways. They bring pressure. Guys at the line of scrimmage have to really pay attention to the protections. Quarterbacks are trying to get the ball out of their hands at a high rate and a fast rate with the blitz coming in. And even when they don't blitz, Cassie, you'll see guys drop back into coverage, confuse the quarterback. I mean, this defense is clicking on all cylinders right now. It's at a historic pace, really, with how they blitz week in and week out. So right now with this Vikings defense, if you're asking me if they can keep this up throughout the course of the season, I don't see why not at this point. They're playing fantastic football. Yeah, I mean, we'll start seeing what it translates to against some tougher competition just this week. They are allowing a league low 12.3 points per game. A lot more questions come on the offense, and Kevin O'Connell said they're not far off. Do you agree or disagree with that statement? If you would have asked me this question last week, I would have said I agree. If you ask me now, like you just did, I'm a little on the fence about this. I think six games is enough of a sample size right now to know what you have offensively. And granted, the Vikings haven't really been healthy at the same time. You saw Kyler Murray miss a game. Justin Jefferson missed a game. Jordan Addison missed a game. Jordan Mason just came off IR. So this Vikings offense hasn't been healthy at the right time. So there is still time for them to get on the same page and all be healthy at the right time and lift this offense up. But right now through six games, I'm starting to get a little bit skeptical. I feel like you kind of are what you are right now. Granted, Kyler Murray is only six games into his new tenure with the Vikings and still learning this offense. But I think it's time now for this offense to really start to contribute because if you want to call it complimentary football, we're talking about Minnesota's defense and special teams. The offense from time to time has shown flashes, but I don't know if you can fully say that they've been fully complimentary either. So I'm a little on the fence about what this offense could look like in the near future you got to consider Justin Jefferson only four catches 44 yards against a Colts secondary that's been banged up no Sauce Gardner in that game how does Justin Jefferson only have 44 yards receiving in that game i'm baffled by it so i'm a little on the fence about this offense right now if i'm being completely honest yeah they've scored just 125 points that's the second fewest points scored by a 6-0 team since 1940 dan let's talk about the lions they eke out a win over the packers as Jake Bates hits a field goal as time expires but the buzz was about Dan Campbell's decision to go for it on fourth and one from the Lions own 24 with under five minutes to play they don't get it what was his reasoning his reasoning was he wanted to make sure that he got the ball back and even if he felt like he failed he said he understood what was on the other side of that failure that they were going to have great field position but the key was with four minutes and 50 seconds to go he knew he'd get the ball back to counter whatever they did be it a field goal be it a touchdown whatever it was the fear was if you punted it away at that point and basically they got two first downs they could probably control the clock from there and you might not see the ball again whether or not you agree with that is the stuff that talk shows are made of because everybody has been talking about this since it happened on sunday and believe me we have had our fill of talking about dan campbell fourth down decisions here in detroit uh since he got here but look we've seen a lot of them work we've seen a lot of them work in critical situations but it's always going to be a conversation and he understands that because there is absolutely a school of thought that says there's no way in the world that you do that, but that's Dan Campbell, and we shouldn't be surprised by the things that he does and the decisions that he makes. And I will say this, normally he's got some pretty solid reasoning behind it, and I think in this case you can look at it and say, you know, if Jordan Love does get two first downs at that point, Detroit might not see the ball again, and they might have been the ones running out the clock. So, we're not going to convert anybody that thinks it was a bad decision. And I'm not going to take anybody that thinks it was a good decision and convince them it was a bad one. It's a polarizing topic. We've had a lot of it here in Detroit, and we'll probably have a lot more to come in the years to come because this is what Dan Campbell does. It's kind of the modern NFL right now. I think he got some backing from Mike Tomlin on the Sunday Night Football broadcast that kind of maybe simmered down the noise a little bit. Brian, the noise is loud, though, when it comes to the Packers and the amount of penalties, were you just as frustrated as the players were? Well, certainly as a fan, and remember, guys, I'm not a sports reporter. I'm an investigative reporter. But what I am is a data guy. And as a fan, of course, it was frustrating. But if you look at the data, the Packers have been called for eight roughing the passer penalties so far this year, a couple in this game, 49 against every team in the league. The Packers, for whatever reason, are getting a lot of these calls, and they appear to be questionable calls. These aren't for sure. you can see these are over-aggressive. Sometimes they're getting there late, but it's a soft two hands. You had Micah Parsons come out on social media saying, what is this, flag football now? That's a piece of it. The Packers have been flagged for unnecessary roughness six times most in the league. 65 overall penalties for 546 yards. You have to at some point say that's a lack of discipline on the Packers, but there have been so many of these marginal questionable calls that you've got obviously a chorus of fans saying there's something going on with the officiating And I just want to point this out because I was having a little bit of fun as a fan, but this is on my work page. I posted on social media, on Facebook, this just in. The NFL League office has formally warned the Green Bay Packers that any attempt by defensive players to approach a quarterback in an attempt to prevent a completed pass will result in a 15-yard penalty. Sarcasm, of course. It has 3,000 likes and more than 500 comments. That sentiment is resonating with fans right now in Green Bay. I mean, it also helps when you are playing against Jared Goff, who, I mean, Dan, should be in MVP conversations by this point. Jared Goff is doing things that quarterbacks have never done in the history of this league. No quarterback in the history of this league has thrown for a touchdown in every game, over 200 yards in every game, and have no interceptions through six games ever, except for Jared Goff. He's playing terrific. He's protecting the football. Let me just say this, Cassie, to the Packer fans out there that might be upset. I checked my email, and I didn't see any letters of apology from Packer fans for the phantom face mask against Devin Taylor that led to the Hail Mary in 2015. I didn't see any apology letters from Packer fans for the two phantom hands-to-the-face calls against Trey Flowers in 2019. Nobody sent me anything excepting blame for Dez Bryant's no catch in a playoff game. And look, Packers, you got the ball because of whatever you thought of the fourth down decision at the Lions' 25-yard line with four minutes and 50 seconds to go, and you did nothing. Blame yourself. Finish the game. Can't argue with that point. You were given opportunities. So we all hate the Packers. Spicy, Cassie. Spicy. Wow. We get spicy on the show from time to time. I know that locker room was spicy. Here's what the Packers player had to say about all the penalties. I don't even want to comment on any of the penalties. So I just, it is what it is. You've got to play above it. And I thought there were some tough calls, but it is what it is. Like, it just be bulls**t that's going on, bulls**t calls. And I don't really – I can't really tell you because sometimes we're not getting – we're not seeing the same calls for our quarterback. We're not seeing the same calls for our offensive guy. So, I just don't really understand. It really don't matter if it's home or away. It's kind of been consistent throughout the year. So, I mean, obviously, like I said, it's not to make it as an excuse, but I just say it's got to go both ways, man. That's all I say. Here's an idea. Here's an idea. Execute a chip shot field goal. That was going to be my next point. Might have been the difference in the game. Brian, Trace Mack, he's got some issues. Do they need to be looking for someone with a little bit more experience at kicker? Well, you know, the Packers have struggled to replace Mason Crosby. He leaves after the 2022 season. They've had five kickers now in four years. And, again, I tell you guys, I'm a data guy, so I start looking at the numbers. And every kicker they bring back is missing something. You had Anders Carlson who was missing mid-range kicks. You had Braden Narveson who was great with extra points but couldn't kick mid-range. Brandon McManus, same thing, mid-range troubles. Now we had the very brief Lucas Havrsek experience, the teacher who came in. Trey Smack, though, he's missing from every distance, and I think that's the problem. He's missing from inside 40, beyond 40. He's missing extra points. seven misses now in seven games that's a rate of 17 misses a season that's worse than anybody the Packers have had since uh since Mason Crosby but they invested a draft pick in him and it didn't sound like Matt LaFleur was in any hurry to say we need to replace this guy he says we've seen him do it I don't know what he's seen him do it's a short uh it's only been seven games I get he's got a big leg he's two for two from beyond 50 but you got to make the short ones when you can't make chip shots and they cost you a game that you lose by three points. It's tough to tell your fans that we've got the guy we believe in. I think Trace Mack has to clean it up quickly because I've got to think he's on a short leash. Yeah, and he has a great name if you're hitting these field goals, but he has the second worst field goal percentage among kickers with double digit field goal attempts. And then it can start getting a little interesting with some nicknames that people come out with. Speaking of kicking game, we saw this play a factor in the Bears win over the Patriots on Thursday Night Football where Cairo Santos missed a 53 yarder and then he hit a career-long 58 yarder to seal the game making a two possession game in the fourth quarter and i love the story behind this where Cairo Santos was asked by Ben Johnson do you think you can go out there and he basically told his coach like i want the opportunity to go out there and do this and what a moment for the kicker who's one of the longest tenured players on this Bears roster to complete a game where yet again you saw the special of Caleb Williams this is one of those marquee quarterback matchups prime time it was the second most watched Thursday night football broadcast on Amazon Prime and you saw Drake May and Caleb Williams battle it out and Caleb Williams was the better quarterback and you saw that throw right there to Rome Odunze that's what we're all talking about here in Chicago it was third and nine Caleb Williams was backed up into his own end zone and he draws that laser to his wide receiver and we're debating is it a better throw or is it a better catch and I just don't think you see Caleb Williams make that throw last year and we're continuing to see the development from our quarterback in real time by doing the simple better and while there's times where you feel like you know you want him to use his legs Ben Johnson would rather him hang in the pocket and hit his weapons and he has a plethora of them and so you saw that whether it be connecting with Luther Burden who had 130 receiving yards all in the first half or Colson Loveland and Roma Dunzai who had key drops in big moments but bounced back and then ended up finishing the game. It was just one of those performances where we're starting to talk about the possibilities that this Bears team could reach this season and we started using the word Super Bowl a lot more around here in Chicago. Dan, the Lions drew the Packers offsides on this third and five play in the fourth quarter and this is buzzing around social media right now. The entire offense broke out in first down celebrations did you catch this in real time up there in the booth or are you seeing this after and saying oh my gosh like this team is having fun right now we saw him celebrating but more I saw it afterwards and I talked to Jared Goff about it and I said dude you just pointed and walked away he goes I was going to the coaches to get the next play he goes I didn't even see it until social media that night so obviously they had fun with it I don't know if anybody I it's funny because you look at that and then every Packer fan underneath says, yeah, well, what about taunting? What about taunting? I don't know if the league will say anything about it. But let's not forget, the league tweeted it out. The league sent it out and said basically, hey, Detroit, did we forget anybody? But, look, that was a big moment in the game because they needed to get that first down to help them kill the clock. And that was third and five, which would have left them in a critical decision as to whether to throw the ball or run the ball or what they're going to do. So celebration aside, it was a big moment, but the celebration obviously is infectious and everybody's having a good time. Yeah, it's always fun. If I could just ask, does Matthew Golden get back his $11,000 for the taunting, for the flex? Because it's hard to imagine that was an $11,000 fine and all of that was not taunting. But hey, I'm just talking as a fan. Brian might have been in the replies. We'll have to go out and do our investigative work after the show. But right now we need to take a timeout. The trade deadline is quickly approaching. Which team will be buyers? We discuss next on First and North. Chicago. It's game day. Can we get a let's go, Bears? It's live. That's got to get you hyped. And boom, watch it right there. Countdown to kickoff is on. Bears game day live Monday at 530 on Fox Chicago, your home of the Bears. Welcome back to First and North. I'm Cassie Carlson at our Fox 32 studios in Chicago, joined by Dan Miller in Detroit, Brian Polson in Milwaukee, and Pierre Nugent in Minneapolis. The trade deadline is two weeks away. It's coming up on Tuesday, November 10th. And with every team in the division above 500, there's a good chance many are going to be active at the deadline. Jordan Schultz reporting the Bears and Niners expected to be very active. The Seahawks made a trade today. They trade for Colts Pro Bowl guard Quentin Nelson. They beef up that offensive line and the run game as they are getting Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet back soon. Schultz also threw out the names Khalil Mack, DeForest Buckner, and Josh Sweat tied to the Bears. Honestly, I think any of them would be a great addition. I would say Mack a little less because of his age at 35 years old, but people are arguing now, do you want someone on the edge? Do you want someone at the middle? I don't think the Bears care where the pressure comes from. I think DeForest Buckner could be an interesting piece in the middle of the Bears defensive line. We also know that the corners are struggling. Maybe the Eagles are going to be sellers, so we'll wait and see, but I expect Ryan Poles to add some pieces to this defense because you can't have a top-ranked offense with a quarterback on a rookie contract and not try to support them on defense. Pierre, you've emphasized Aaron Jones' workload at 30-plus years old over the past few weeks. Now he's day-to-day with a knee injury. Should the Vikings be in the market for a running back? You know, that's a really good question, Cassie. And like you mentioned, Aaron Jones is day-to-day. That is what Kevin O'Connell told us in his press conference yesterday. We'll see if he returns to practice tomorrow when the first injury report comes out. But, you know, Jordan Mason came off IR, averaged four and a half yards of carry in that game against Indianapolis. I'm not so sure that running back is exactly a position of need. You could always get better, sure. But like you said just a moment ago, Quenton Nelson, that was the man I had my eye on for this Vikings team. You know, Donovan Jackson was lost for the season to injury. and I thought Quenton Nelson would be a great get for Minnesota to help bolster their offensive line for the rest of the season. But, yeah, there's been eyes on some potential running back matches, and I think the Vikings will be active at the deadline. But you also mentioned DeForest Buckner. Even though I'm not so sure if DeForest Buckner, for as talented as he is, I'm not so sure he's the right fit for this scheme, but part of me is thinking, do you almost have to trade for DeForest Buckner in order to ensure that the 49ers and the Bears don't get him? Two teams that you might see in the postseason. That's something I think you have to think about. Running back is not exactly high on my priority list for the Vikings. I have to be honest. All right, that's interesting. Brian, early in the game against the Lions, starting center Sean Ryan left the game. Then their backup center got hurt, so they turned to John Williams, their third-string center, who played his first NFL snaps. I mean, it's kind of the story of the season when it comes to the Packers, just injury after injury. What's the latest on Sean Ryan? Well, Sean Ryan, it looks like he's going to be out about four weeks. And it's musical linemen right now for the Green Bay Packers. We've seen so many different people. You've got, obviously, Zach Baca, who's on IR, the formerly Zach Tom. Jacob Monk's on IR. You've had a lot of other people filling into different places. They've signed a couple of players to try to fill the gaps. I think with all of these changes, the offensive line has actually performed pretty well, at least in pass protection. That seems to have gotten better. But where it really seems to be showing is the running game is not there. Even with the return of Josh Jacobs, maybe it's rust, but maybe it's an offensive line that just isn't opening up holes. He had 36 yards carrying the ball. He was more effective catching the ball, but the line is obviously a patchwork right now. And seeing Sean Rhyan go down at center is a big blow. And they've got to survive, obviously, the next few weeks before he's able to return. Yeah, on the Josh Jacobs note, you know, he made his season debut, had 11 carries for 36 yards, five catches for 55 yards. Do you think he eventually alone helps fix the run game issues in Green Bay? He certainly improves it, and I think one of the things he does is he also helps with opening up play action. He gives them some of those short receiving options if he can hang on to the ball. Obviously, he dropped a really big one at the end of the game against Detroit where that very well could have been the game-winning touchdown catch, but he had a really great play tiptoeing down the sideline before that. So he's not maybe breaking big plays on first down. I think it's going to take time for maybe him to shake some of that rust off. He said he didn't feel like his timing was there yet. That may take some time to get back. But it's also hard to say how much of this is an offensive line that just isn't good at run blocking. And we're not seeing as much of Tucker Kraft out there in receiving because he's needed help with that in tight. So I think that's going to be one of the things to watch for for the Packers is does Josh Jacobs open up that running game eventually or is this patchwork offensive line going to make that difficult to do? All right, Dan, Lions turned it over two times for the first time since week one. But Brian Branch also came up with an interception in his season debut, returning from the Achilles injury. Felt like the back end of the defense was much more improved with him back. Do you agree? It's been better for the last two games. And, yeah, Branch definitely made a difference. There's no doubt about it. And he was on a pitch count in this game. They were trying to be conservative with him. You'll see his role and his snap count grow as the season goes on. And while we never know exactly what it means, Kirby Joseph is starting to put some tweets out there to kind of indicate that he might be on the way back at some point. So we'll see. But listen, Branch is such a big chess piece for this team because they can play him so many different places on that defense, and he's a playmaker, as you see right there. Just the way he goes up and gets the ball. And look, Jordan Love completes a lot of those passes, man. He gives his receivers opportunities to make plays. Branch went up and took that away from Watson, and that was a big moment for the Lions to be able to do that. So we're going to see where this defense goes. It's trending in the right direction from a horrible start. It's going to be interesting to see what they do this week against Minnesota and their talented receivers. I know, look, Pierre has talked about the fact that their offense hasn't been very productive. We've let offenses that haven't been productive have big games, and they can't do that this week. They've got to continue to ascend as the season goes on. We'll see if that defensive line, though, can get to Kyler Murray. We need to take our final timeout. we preview week eight around the division when we return on First and North Sports tonight join Cassie Carlson if you get that is that the determining factor it's the final word for Chicago sports fans what is the personality of a guy that you want to bring into the Bears covering the big plays and the next moves Chicago Sports tonight new episodes weeknights at six stream anytime on Fox Local welcome back to First and North here are the matchups for week eight in the NFC North. It gets started on Thursday night as the Packers host the Panthers, who just gave up 43 points against Tampa Bay last week. Sunday at noon, Vikings look to continue their undefeated season as they head to the Motor City to take on the Lions. Then on Monday night, the Bears visit the defending Super Bowl champs, the Seattle Seahawks. So as we get into the week eight matchups, Brian, Packers, Panthers, short week, What are going to be the keys for a Packers win? Well, I think one thing is for the Packers receivers to stop dropping the ball. Jordan Love's completion percentage is one of the lowest in the league but that's because his receivers keep dropping passes, it's a tough pass defense Carolina's pretty good, I think they're going to have to find a way to complete those passes and see if they can get Josh Jacobs back up in the running game. All right Dan, top ranked offense in the Lions against the top ranked defense in the Vikings, what's going to be key for the Lions offense? Look, they got us twice last year and their defense worked the Lions offense in both those games and it's interesting because in the four games against that defense before that, led by Brian Flores The Lions have scored at least 30 and won all four of those games So they've got to figure out what went wrong last year Minnesota's playing really well. They're the team everybody's chasing. They're coming into the Lions' house. It's a big opportunity for Detroit. All right, Pierre, as we talked about at the top of the show the schedule gets a lot tougher for the Vikings. What do they need to do to remain undefeated? Well, I think one thing they need to do is, for as much as they already blitz, I think you're going to see them perhaps blitz even more because when Jahmyr Gibbs is on the field he's paid to score touchdowns and make explosive plays. He's not paid to be a blocker. So if Jahmyr Gibbs is on the field and you want to suddenly bring eight guys into the backfield and make Jared Goff think about it and make Jahmyr Gibbs into a blocker that to me is a key factor to see how much the Vikings are going to blitz the Lions this Sunday and see if they can improve to 7-0 All right, and the Bears are back in primetime in Seattle, one of the toughest places to play. I think we want to see them run the ball and limit Jackson Smith and Jigba, although it's going to be tough as this Bears secondary has been exposed multiple times But this, to me, has NFC Championship preview written all over it All right, everyone, thanks for joining us on First and North. For Dan, Brian, and Pierre, I'm Cassie We'll see you back here for another episode of First and North next week. Have a good one.