Randy from Raymond, IA

Not a question, just a comment thanking Wes for a great story about Mr. Rochell! Sometimes we fans really need to hear a story like this. We have to remember these players are human. They face adversary every day just like the rest of us. They are not robots. Thank you for sharing, and sending prayers to Scoota.

If you haven't seen that story, be sure to check it out.

Scott from Sauk City, WI

Hi Mike! Since I refuse to give Jeff Bezos any money, I will be missing the live action Thursday. Give me the best elevator pitch for your live blog. Is it better than Wayne and Larry? Or should I enjoy both, simultaneously? Does your live blog include daggers?

No sharp-edged weapons of any kind in the live blog, unless you incur my wrath. Ha. Many folks follow the live blog while listening to the radio broadcast/stream. I'm usually a play ahead or so since I'm truly "live" with no delay. It's a madhouse of sorts, so as long as you don't get upset about your comments not getting posted – because I can only grab a random one here or there as fast and furiously as they come in – I think you'll enjoy it.

CJ from Marshfield, WI

Spoff, once a talking head puts a narrative on a team folks repeat it until they can't. That's fair, but there's almost always a negative narrative available to spread about all 32 whether win quality, stat rankings, etc. If GB exchanges a couple wins and losses from good and bad opponents then the narrative becomes inconsistency and sometimes playing down to the level of the opponent. It's inescapable, and the John Maddening thing is – BOOM – everyone agrees on league parity at the same time.

Perfectly valid and nicely done. That's partly why I don't get caught up in narratives, identity discussions and the like. The NFL is an all-encompassing, amorphous beast, so I keep my focus narrow. All I care about is if the Packers win Thursday night, the NFC North is still in play for them. If not, it's wild card or bust. That's it, that's all.

Matt from Middleton, WI

Hello Michael, it's been said in this space many times football is a young man's game. Does this get magnified towards the end of a long grueling season?

It can. Perhaps more crucially, I think young players and teams have a better chance of playing their best football during the stretch run. That's part of the philosophy behind Gutey's roster-building approach since making the QB transition.

Roger from McGrath, AK

My maladjusted-to-winning Lion fan friends and family proudly embrace dread and tell me, "You just don't know what it's like. You can't." They are just waiting for the other foot to fall and worry about injuries from their Thanksgiving game. Who among their walking wounded matter most?

Well, if they get CB Carlton Davis back, that would be big for them. But they've had to revamp their LB corps due to injuries, and the status of big guys like Decker at left tackle, plus Paschal and Reader on the defensive front, is iffy.

Jason from Austin, TX

If I were to change two things from the last game vs. Detroit, they would be (1) opening the game with an 8-minute TD drive instead of 8-minute FG drive, and (2) an incomplete pass instead of a pick-6. Hopefully we're the ones that benefit from a pick-6 this time. How has Detroit been on the turnover margin? I'm assuming good.

The Lions are plus-8 in turnover differential, and five of Goff's nine INTs came in one game.

David from Florence, AZ

Not a question an observation. If the Packers leave the middle of the field open on pass plays like they did against Miami the Lions will eat them alive.

Every game plan is different and every game unfolds differently. Tua threw for 240 of his 365 yards in the final 1½ quarters last Thursday, after the game was 27-3. As LaFleur said Sunday (or maybe it was Friday), figuring the defense would stop at least one of a possible three two-point conversions, the Packers were playing it as a four-possession advantage and were not going to get beat over the top by the Dolphins' speed. I expect a different game plan, and a different game in general, in Detroit, and we'll see how it's executed.

Mark from Hudson, WI

It's great to see Isaiah McDuffie finally getting some love. He isn't the flashiest guy on the field but he always seems to be in the right position and always around the ball, and has to be one of, if not the surest tackler on the D. Is there a more underrated contributor to a defense on the rise right now?

McDuffie certainly qualifies, and my hat is off to him for the steady growth he's shown since his arrival as a sixth-round pick in 2021. Duly impressive. But back to your specific question, I'd also mention T.J. Slaton. A guy like that is in the conversation, too. When I asked D-line coach Jason Rebrovich about him Tuesday, he called Slaton the most improved D-linemen in the last six weeks. That's saying something considering what we've seen lately form Lukas Van Ness and Brenton Cox Jr.

David from Janesville, WI

Gents, for much of the last 15-20 years or so it seemed Green Bay was known more as a finesse team. Obviously there is a physical aspect to every squad out there, but the eye test seems to indicate that the Packers are more physical the last few years and especially this season. Have you seen the same thing? Personally I love it, you have to be able to take a punch to land a punch and these guys keep swinging.

Yeah, I think it's there. Green Bay's style of running game with Jacobs and the recent improvement in the run defense speak to the physicality ratcheting up a bit.

Patrick from Albertville, AL

Thanks for the WYMM Mike. It showed that while Miami limited Josh Jacobs in the run game, they were so focused on stopping him, those slight hesitations opened up so much more.

Bingo.

Don from Boise, ID

"... turning the tide starts with the Packers playing cleaner football." I'll echo that. Mistake-free football is a winning formula for sure and also more fun to watch. Do you feel the team has a grip on their mistakes? Some recent errant throws and lining up in the neutral zone makes me wonder.

Some physical mistakes – errant throws, dropped passes, missed tackles – are going to happen here and there. You need to limit those as much as possible, but opponents can force those mistakes at times, too. There's much more control over the mental ones, particularly pre-snap penalties, that the Packers must start eliminating. Hearing the coaches this week, their patience has run out.

Jim form Hudsonville, MI

Following the upcoming Lions game, we will have gone from three games in 12 days to one game in 17 days. Could be a great chance to get healthy for what should be an exhilarating finish to the season!

What day is it again?

Andrew from Chicago, IL

On Jahmyr Gibbs' leaking code words, Dan Campbell had this to say: "I don't really give a crap. If we're gonna lose because of code words, then we're not good enough anyway. I think we'll just post the whole freaking playbook and every code word we've got. It doesn't matter. It's not gonna hurt us." Personally, I love and respect that attitude. And I suspect I'm not the only one (looking at Vic). Players, not plays. Bring on the Lions.

I've never asked him specifically, but there's no doubt in my mind Vic loves Dan Campbell.

Matt from Allouez, WI

Is the NFC North that good or is the NFC South that bad?

Well, if you take away the AFC South's 2-14 record against the NFC North, and division games they've played amongst themselves, the AFC South is currently 10-10 against everybody else. I'll let you decide.

Jeremy from Krakow, Poland

There are only five active QBs in the league who've won a Super Bowl. Four of them are 36 or older, and they've only won one each. Do you think we'll see more parity over the next generation?

There was relative parity in that regard with the last generation of QBs except for one guy.

Ben from McFarland, WI

Are we headed to a time when most calls will come from a "replay booth"? It seems to be trending that way. The most inconsistently called penalties seem to be holding and pass interference (from both sides of the ball). PI always seems the oddest...you can watch one game and see it called one way, then another where it's totally different. Or have that happen in the same game. Would "calls from above" make it better or worse?

The day the league goes back to any sort of replay review available for PI, that'll suddenly put everything on the table.

Alex from Salt Lake City, UT

In regard to the illegal man downfield penalty, I was under the impression that if the pass was behind the line of scrimmage it was okay to get lineman downfield. That's how the rule was enforced at the high school level (although that could very well be different in the league).

That's correct, and when I glanced back at the film, the LOS was the GB 14 and Achane caught the TD pass on the 15, which I didn't realize at first because it wasn't a typical sideways screen.

Matt from Kolesin, Poland

Maybe I shouldn't post it on Packers website but when I watch Justin Tucker lately I feel bad for him. He looks like a nice, humble guy. It's much better watching young careers ascending than older folks being caught by Father Time.

I don't think it's Father Time with Tucker as much as just a rough year. He's the best to ever do it, and just last year he was 32-of-37 on field goals (missing only one inside 50) and 51-of-52 on PATs. Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but my guess is Tucker still has some good years left. This just isn't one of them.

Howard from Appleton, WI

It pains me a bit to ask this question, but how many fans of the Jets do you think are wishing now they still had Geno Smith or Sam Darnold on their roster?

That's not how I look at it at all. Those players' stories have proven that a club's overall environment is critical to effective QB development.

Kevin from New Milford, CT

After seeing Jameis Winston's pick-six on a potential game-winning drive, it seems like this year, instead of the good teams finding ways to win, the bad teams are finding ways to lose. Thoughts?

There's some validity to that. But boy, if that Monday night performance by Winston – 497 yards, four TDs, three INTs (two of them pick-sixes) – doesn't sum up his career, nothing does.

Donald from Philadelphia, PA

Apologies if you've gotten this question a lot today, but what do you think the chances are Sharpe gets into the Hall now that he made it to the senior committee finalists list? If he doesn't get it, is he out forever? Something in my memory says that used to be the rule for senior committee nominees, but I could be wrong!

There's no such rule I'm aware of, and the voting process has changed now to where it's not as simple as a rubber stamp for a senior finalist. But this does feel like a last stand of sorts for Sharpe. I think he should get in, and if he doesn't there's no guarantee the senior committee will push him forward this far again.

Gavin from Albuquerque, NM

Watching the Bills vs. 49ers game was so much fun. I love a good snow game. Sad to see so many teams put up domes. The NFL has a lot of say in the product they put on the field and thereby screen. Do they have any control over stadiums? Or is that up to the owner and/or taxpayers in the towns that pay for stadiums?

The league has no say in how stadiums are built. It really is sad the two teams that have hosted great snow games this season – Cleveland and Buffalo – are building domes now.

Gary from Davenport, IA

Do you think the NCAA needs to ban planting a team flag on an opponent's midfield logo? What happened this past weekend was disgraceful and the winning teams need to show more class.

When it comes to this demonstrative celebration age, I'd rather have teams celebrate with flags and logos than being confrontationally up in people's faces. All things considered, it's a harmless celebration that the losing team should be able to accept and use as motivation for the future. Call it sore winning if you want, I won't argue, but sore losing always looks worse.

Bryan from West Salem, WI

Every NFL season writes its own story. The Ravens and Broncos having the same record after chapter 13 is a plot twist I don't think anyone saw coming, along with the Niners missing the playoffs and the Jets pursuing the No. 1 overall draft pick in Green Bay next year. Which Super Bowl matchup would give you your storybook ending? For me, it's Packers/Steelers. Two of the most legendary franchises in all of professional sports, a rematch of SBXLV, plus a few Wisconsin Badgers to boot? Yes please!

First, just beat the Lions. Second, if the Packers aren't in the Super Bowl, my rooting interests turn to the Buffalo Bills. Case closed.

Kent from Lewiston, ID

What's the weather forecast in Detroit for the game?

About as meaningful as that NFC Central race.

CJ from Marion, IA

Much has been said that the Packers need to bring their A game to beat Detroit. But the Lions will need to bring their A game to beat the Packers, too.

Happy Wednesday.