Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you
Speaker 1: here from our studios at lambeau Field West, fresh off
Speaker 1: of the schedule release for the twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 1: The Packers' schedule is out there, The entire NFL schedule
Speaker 1: is out there, and we're going to spend the bulk
Speaker 1: of this episode talking about it. And I'm just going
Speaker 1: to start with your thoughts. When you first glanced at
Speaker 1: the schedule, what was the first thing you noticed.
Speaker 2: My eyes went to one thing, and it was what's
Speaker 2: happening Week one? And that's the green Bay Packers are
Speaker 2: back at lambeau Field for the first time since twenty eighteen,
Speaker 2: the first time as Matt Lafleur in the position of
Speaker 2: Packers head coach. The Green Bay Packers will play a
Speaker 2: home opener at lambeau Field in Week one, and I
Speaker 2: just felt like this was important because I know you're
Speaker 2: the big baseball buff I'm not, but I will say
Speaker 2: I always felt like when opening Day happens in Major
Speaker 2: League Baseball, if you're playing the home at home during
Speaker 2: opening Day, that's a big deal. There's been so many
Speaker 2: times I can't tell you where the Brewers will start
Speaker 2: on a road trip and then eventually they have their
Speaker 2: home opener, and my attention has already gone off to
Speaker 2: some other places. The NFL the season, every weekend, every
Speaker 2: Sunday is huge, and I'm not saying it's not. And
Speaker 2: we've had some awesome Sundays the last few years. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Jordan Love I'll never forget his first home opener as
Speaker 2: the starting quarterback against the New Orleans Saints two years ago, right,
Speaker 2: But I just think there's something special about actually having
Speaker 2: that first game right out of like the eight. What
Speaker 2: I did not anticipate was oh, hey, four days later,
Speaker 2: we're gonna do this again. Who wants to play again?
Speaker 2: Because they'll welcome in a very talented, very deep, very
Speaker 2: dangerous Washington Commanders team. But the fact that Green Bay
Speaker 2: did I only get that opener. They're going to take
Speaker 2: on the Detroit Lions the first time I think in
Speaker 2: twenty four years they're hosting the Lions and an opener.
Speaker 2: I think it's the first time since five that they're
Speaker 2: playing them at all. That that is a fitting way,
Speaker 2: I feel like to at least start off what is
Speaker 2: somewhat of an uneven but always going to be imperfect schedule.
Speaker 1: It is kind of crazy that it took this long
Speaker 1: into Matt Lafleur's tenure for the Packers to get a
Speaker 1: week one home games.
Speaker 2: Because longest stretching franchise history.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Packers had opened their one hundred season in
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen with a home game against the Bears, and
Speaker 1: then they did not open another season at home until
Speaker 1: season one oh seven, which is what this one.
Speaker 2: And they requested that one, Yeah, in eighteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2: It's been actually just straight up booked for one since seventeen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you and you hinted at it as well.
Speaker 1: It's it's an interesting one to two right off the
Speaker 1: bat when you're playing actually two teams that played each
Speaker 1: other in the NFC Divisional Playoffs last year, the Lions
Speaker 1: and the Commanders. It'll be back to back, both games
Speaker 1: at Lambeau five days in a span of five days.
Speaker 1: The two games are just four days apart, a late
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon and then a Thursday night game. And it's
Speaker 1: very interesting to me that it fell that way in
Speaker 1: a year in which the NFC, which of course includes
Speaker 1: the Packers, has the eight home games and the nine
Speaker 1: road games, that when you actually have one more road
Speaker 1: game on the schedule that you would start out with
Speaker 1: back to back home games, Because now that leaves you
Speaker 1: with nine road games out of your last fifteen, it
Speaker 1: becomes a bit unbalanced in that regard. But starting out
Speaker 1: against Detroit and Washington, two playoff teams from a year ago,
Speaker 1: two teams with Super Bowl aspirations, it's a tremendous opportunity
Speaker 1: getting both of those teams at home right out of
Speaker 1: the gate. It's a tremendous opportunity for the Packers to
Speaker 1: make a statement of sorts as to where twenty five
Speaker 1: might be headed for green Bay. The other intriguing thing
Speaker 1: I think, just with opening against the Lions in particular,
Speaker 1: is they have a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: Both of their coordinators from last year got head coaching
Speaker 1: jobs elsewhere. There's obviously plenty of confidence in Detroit on
Speaker 1: both sides of the ball that they can keep this
Speaker 1: thing rolling with Dan Campbell and the players they have
Speaker 1: and everything they've got going. But sometimes you just never know,
Speaker 1: and there's gonna be a lot of unknown with regard
Speaker 1: to there always is with a week one game, but
Speaker 1: then a Week one game against a team that has
Speaker 1: brand new coordinators on both sides of the ball. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure that I can recall anything like that happening
Speaker 1: in recent years around.
Speaker 2: Not where you lose both. And obviously some of that
Speaker 2: is somewhat telegraphed because Ben Johnson probably could have left
Speaker 2: for a job last year. Oh sure not to yeah,
Speaker 2: But so my point being with that comment is the
Speaker 2: Lions obviously have been bracing for his leaving here at
Speaker 2: some point and obviously had their plans in place for
Speaker 2: how are going to go about handling that. I will say, though,
Speaker 2: especially as it relates to the NFC North, a really
Speaker 2: interesting question Insider Inboxes past week asking about the probability
Speaker 2: of the Chicago Bears not taking a step forward with
Speaker 2: Ben Johnson taking over as the head coach, but also
Speaker 2: the Detroit Lions taking a step back without him as
Speaker 2: their offensive coordinator. That is an interesting way to look
Speaker 2: at it, because what is the probability of those two
Speaker 2: things both happening. Is Chicago going to make a big jump,
Speaker 2: but is Detroit going to take a step back. Is
Speaker 2: Detroit going to keep the training on the tracks, But
Speaker 2: is Chicago going to become this giant that everybody's been
Speaker 2: thinking they were going to be for the last I
Speaker 2: don't know decade that they've been billed as a lot
Speaker 2: of times during the off season. We'll have to wait
Speaker 2: and see. But past happenings don't always indicate future success.
Speaker 2: So I'm just very interested to see if Detroit can
Speaker 2: legitimately stay on top of the mountain in if Chicago
Speaker 2: can actually claw itself back into this thing. In either case,
Speaker 2: with the Packers standpoint two very intriguing matchups against the Lions,
Speaker 2: and that they open the season and they also travel
Speaker 2: there for Thanksgiving again second time in three years. And
Speaker 2: then in Chicago's case, you actually won't see Ben Johnson.
Speaker 2: You won't be a part of that rivalry yet until
Speaker 2: what week fourteen. Yeah, they start that stretch of two
Speaker 2: games in three weeks, two very interesting ways to go
Speaker 2: out tackling one of the two of the Packers' biggest rivals.
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned the Thanksgiving game in Detroit, and that
Speaker 1: was the other thing that really caught my eye right away,
Speaker 1: and it's what I wrote about on the website. In
Speaker 1: my column, you wrote the ten things about the schedule,
Speaker 1: and I kind of focused on this one particular element,
Speaker 1: which is that the Packers have two Thursday games, so
Speaker 1: you have two short weeks, and so that gives you
Speaker 1: two different segments of your schedule. War you're playing two
Speaker 1: games in a span of five days, but the two
Speaker 1: games in five days are Lions Commanders and then Vikings
Speaker 1: Lions the week of Thanksgiving. The Packers have nine games
Speaker 1: on their schedule in twenty twenty five against teams that
Speaker 1: made the playoffs a year ago. Four of those nine
Speaker 1: are in these like Sunday Thursday, these two games within
Speaker 1: five days things. We've been a part of these before
Speaker 1: West because every team has to deal with it when
Speaker 1: you play a Sunday followed by a Thursday. And yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: there's plenty of times where you win when you lose one,
Speaker 1: and that's how this league goes. But man, you can
Speaker 1: really set yourself up with a lot of momentum if
Speaker 1: you can win both of those games, and you can
Speaker 1: really find yourself, you know, struggling and needing a reset
Speaker 1: if you drop two games in a span of five days.
Speaker 1: These are inflection points in any given NFL schedule when
Speaker 1: you have to when you have to cram two games
Speaker 1: into such a short timeframe. There and the fact that
Speaker 1: all of the matchups, the four matchups in these two
Speaker 1: five day spans that the Packers are dealing with, one
Speaker 1: in September, one in November leading into things giving the
Speaker 1: matchups are huge, they're going to have made the major
Speaker 1: implications because of the teams that the Packers are facing
Speaker 1: in those in those matchups.
Speaker 2: An excellent point by you, And I mean, is there
Speaker 2: any better example of what you just talked about than
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty three Packers. I mean, their season was
Speaker 2: at a crossroads when they hosted the Los Angeles Chargers.
Speaker 2: They beat the Chargers, and then they surprise the world
Speaker 2: and they beat a streaking Detroit Lions, completely turned the
Speaker 2: season around, and the week after that beat the Kansas
Speaker 2: City Chiefs, who end up going on and winning the
Speaker 2: Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's that's the difference that the team
Speaker 2: that went from four and six to suddenly being right
Speaker 2: there at six and six by a matter of just
Speaker 2: taking care of business. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's a as as I said, these are these
Speaker 1: are crucial stretches and the fact that the Packers have
Speaker 1: two of them on the schedule and the matchups that
Speaker 1: they're facing in those are are going to have such
Speaker 1: big implications in the NFC picture if things go somewhat
Speaker 1: as we expect with teams like the Lions and the
Speaker 1: Commanders and the Packers and the Vikings staying as contenders.
Speaker 2: So before we shot this, and we also did our
Speaker 2: little Q and a video as well beforehand, I have
Speaker 2: a one guy. There's one human being that I will
Speaker 2: always say yes to an interview. It's Mike Keller, good
Speaker 2: friend of mine, do the pregame radio show with them,
Speaker 2: works for iHeartRadio to Milwaukee. And I told him like,
Speaker 2: this today is the only day I was like. I
Speaker 2: was like, I wasn't, but it was because of Mike.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'll do it for you. We have enough
Speaker 2: other stuff going on, I'll do it for you. So
Speaker 2: the point I'm illustrating with that is we got into
Speaker 2: an interesting discussion. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts
Speaker 2: on this, because the question came up about all of
Speaker 2: us thinking that we were going to be playing the
Speaker 2: Gremit Packers will be playing on Christmas here based on
Speaker 2: the fact that they were going to take on Chicago
Speaker 2: Bears on that Saturday in week sixteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, December twentieth.
Speaker 2: So my question for you is, and then I'll tell
Speaker 2: you what my response was this, would you rather be
Speaker 2: home on Christmas for a game or be in Detroit
Speaker 2: for Thanksgiving? Or be on the road doesn't have to
Speaker 2: be Detroit, but just be on the road for Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: or home on Christmas.
Speaker 1: US. Given my druthers, I would probably say home on Christmas.
Speaker 1: But I will say this play playing on Thanksgiving. I
Speaker 1: don't mind. I don't mind the Detroit game because A
Speaker 1: it's a quick flight and B it's the earliest game
Speaker 1: on things true. So you know, I mean I have
Speaker 1: I've covered. I'd have to count it up. I think
Speaker 1: I've covered four or five of the Packers Thanksgiving games
Speaker 1: in Detroit in my tenure. And now this year they
Speaker 1: moved the kickoff back to noon Central. It used to
Speaker 1: be eleven thirty and uh and with that eleven thirty kickoff,
Speaker 1: like I'd be I'd be walking back in the door
Speaker 1: at home at like six thirty for a late Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: dinner with my family. You know, can't quite get back
Speaker 1: that early now because they've they've moved the kickoff back
Speaker 1: to twelve. But but I I've never minded that the
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving game in Detroit because because of how close it is,
Speaker 1: and because it's the early one last year hosting Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: you know, with the night game, you know, eating all
Speaker 1: the turkey during the day and then having to work
Speaker 1: really really late hours with.
Speaker 2: All of our Yeah, we were super productive.
Speaker 1: That was that was That was tough. That was tough,
Speaker 1: and it was the uh, that was the if I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken, that was the start of what was at
Speaker 1: four night games in a row or whatever last year.
Speaker 1: So at least there's nothing like that that's on the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty fifth schedule.
Speaker 2: If I never have to eat turkey in the ford
Speaker 2: Field press box again in my life, though, I wouldn't
Speaker 2: necessarily well upset.
Speaker 1: And and that's the thing is when I know that
Speaker 1: I'm coming home to have Thanksgiving dinner, like I just
Speaker 1: don't even eat the turkey and the press.
Speaker 2: Well good because it's usually gone by the time you
Speaker 2: end up getting and.
Speaker 1: I don't even I don't even worry about it, you know,
Speaker 1: I just maybe grab a couple of side dishes that
Speaker 1: I know aren't going to be back at home.
Speaker 2: But I I just it was something the question I
Speaker 2: come up with Mike and we're doing the show on
Speaker 2: because it was like I kind of, you know, dodged
Speaker 2: a little bit of a fiasco there and not having Christmas.
Speaker 2: I'm like, ah, I think I would have taken Christmas
Speaker 2: over being in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, home on Christmas is always a good thing. The
Speaker 1: other thing I want to mention though, with regard to
Speaker 1: that Thanksgiving game, So you have the Vikings on the
Speaker 1: Sunday before Thanksgiving at Lambeau, then you go to Detroit
Speaker 1: for Thanksgiving. That begins the final seven weeks of the
Speaker 1: regular season, in which five of the Packers NFC North
Speaker 1: games are in those final seven including, as you mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: playing the Bears twice in a span of three weeks
Speaker 1: there in December. So you have Vikings Lions on Thanksgiving week,
Speaker 1: you got the two games with the Bears in a
Speaker 1: span of three weeks, and then you finish in week
Speaker 1: eighteen at Minnesota. So five of your six division games
Speaker 1: are essentially from Thanksgiving week to the end of the year,
Speaker 1: really really backloaded in terms of those NFC North matchups,
Speaker 1: and that's where they're intriguing piece to this schedule.
Speaker 2: It definitely is. And again we were trying to find
Speaker 2: some information on this as far as if there's ever
Speaker 2: been anything where it's been that backlogged. The only other
Speaker 2: time they played five games in the last seven weeks
Speaker 2: was since O two the ray alignment was twenty twelve.
Speaker 2: But to have this many in that tide of a
Speaker 2: window is remarkable. And to go two and a half
Speaker 2: months without playing your division, it seems like I couldn't
Speaker 2: give you the exact year on this. It seems like
Speaker 2: they've actually done this a couple times now, at least
Speaker 2: during my time covering the team, where they go these
Speaker 2: elongated stretches without playing the NFC North and then everything
Speaker 2: kind of feels funneled there at the end. Again, we'll
Speaker 2: have to wait and see. Packers took care of business
Speaker 2: last year against the AFC South. I think they might
Speaker 2: have cleared out the AFC South by the time they
Speaker 2: played Minnesota. Was it there was like one team I
Speaker 2: don't think they had faced yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe that's true.
Speaker 2: By the time they had already wrapped up their four
Speaker 2: games against the celt So it's just the way schedules go,
Speaker 2: you know, the way you got to build a schedule somehow.
Speaker 2: Not everybody's always going to be happy for me personally,
Speaker 2: but neat to see another mid season by. I enjoyed
Speaker 2: the mid season by as someone that you know is
Speaker 2: trying to formulate a life out of in addition to
Speaker 2: having a career. But be that as it may, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's gonna be a vallenge and something that Packers
Speaker 2: have to tackle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that the early bye is not ideal. We've we've
Speaker 1: talked about that plenty of times in previous years. The
Speaker 1: Packers have certainly had their fair share of early bye weeks.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting because back in twenty twenty two when
Speaker 1: the Packers went to London in Week five, I believe
Speaker 1: it was the league gives you the option after an
Speaker 1: international trip that you can take your bye the next week,
Speaker 1: and the Packers chose not to because they felt that
Speaker 1: week six was too early. They wanted to have the
Speaker 1: bye later in the season. So the Packers have turned
Speaker 1: down that early bye, Yet there's all these other years
Speaker 1: where the league just hands it to them anyway and
Speaker 1: says year week five, week six, here's your buye. This
Speaker 1: is when you get your week off.
Speaker 2: And the year they got that London game. They turned
Speaker 2: down the Week six by next Oh, here you go
Speaker 2: Week thirteen, enjoy yourself, or in December, enjoy your break. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they put it.
Speaker 1: They put it at the extreme extreme. On the other end,
Speaker 1: I'll take care of a little bit of sponsor business
Speaker 1: here West and then we'll get back to it. Serious.
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Speaker 1: Subs fifty plus years of better. All right, we talked
Speaker 1: about some general themes and whatnot with regard to the schedule,
Speaker 1: but let's just highlight some individual games that catch your eye,
Speaker 1: that get the old metaphorical circle on the calendar, what
Speaker 1: jumps out at you.
Speaker 2: I'm really interested to see the Cincinnati Bengals come in
Speaker 2: here after the bye. We haven't in all the content
Speaker 2: you and I have done so far, we really haven't
Speaker 2: talked much about that yet. But the Joe Burrow show
Speaker 2: there with Daniels and obviously you know T Higgins and
Speaker 2: everything he's done in this league. This is gonna be
Speaker 2: our Jamar Chase excuse me, yeah, Chase. This is going
Speaker 2: to be a huge, huge challenge trying to slow them down.
Speaker 2: I mean, people forget they just missed out of making
Speaker 2: the playoffs, but there might not have been a hotter
Speaker 2: team down the stretch last season than the Bengals once
Speaker 2: they started getting everything together. Yea, it looked like I
Speaker 2: mean in a lot of ways, Mike, it's really hard
Speaker 2: for a guy to be in like legitimate MVP contention
Speaker 2: when you're not on a playoff team. But I mean,
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow, a case could be made that he was
Speaker 2: the most important player to any team last year based
Speaker 2: on what that could have potentially been like for Cincinnati
Speaker 2: had he not been around. But they were able to
Speaker 2: get some moment at the end of the season. Packers
Speaker 2: have a tough stretch, and we've talked a lot about
Speaker 2: that early stretch, but coming out of the by and
Speaker 2: then immediately getting that greatest show on what Kentucky Bluegrass
Speaker 2: down there in Cincinnati, that is not going to be
Speaker 2: an easy task at all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'll say I'm looking forward to seeing Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow and Jamar Chase like in person for the first
Speaker 1: time because the only other time in the era of
Speaker 1: those two stars for Cincinnati that the Packers have played
Speaker 1: them was during one of the two I guess it
Speaker 1: would have been twenty twenty one, one of the COVID
Speaker 1: seasons when we actually weren't traveling, so that ended up
Speaker 1: being the crazy overtime game in Cincinnati with the missed
Speaker 1: field goals and everything else, and then the Packers ultimately prevailed.
Speaker 1: But you and I have never seen Joe Burrow Jamar
Speaker 1: Chase in that offense like live, you know, like.
Speaker 2: We didn't eve get a chance to see him in
Speaker 2: the joint practices. Yeah, no, that's true.
Speaker 1: We did.
Speaker 2: It's them with that too, because of his calf injury
Speaker 2: or whatever.
Speaker 1: It was. Yeah. Interesting, interesting tidbit I'll throw at you though,
Speaker 1: because obviously the Packers and the Bengals don't play each
Speaker 1: other all that often. The last two times Green Bay
Speaker 1: and Cincinnati have played in the regular season, the game
Speaker 1: has gone to overtime.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, yeah, twenty seven. I didn't know that.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty one, and now here we are again
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. But sticking with the AFC North,
Speaker 1: I don't have to explain myself here, but certainly the
Speaker 1: game in Pittsburgh under the lights, primetime game along the
Speaker 1: Allegheny there in Pittsburgh, it's a great setting for football.
Speaker 1: It's a wonderful stadium, that's a really neat place. And
Speaker 1: if what we think is going to happen at the
Speaker 1: quarterback position for that matchup, of course that that game
Speaker 1: against Pittsburgh has ori. And then speaking of parking Rudolph right, yeah, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: speaking of players that we haven't gotten to see live, Lamar.
Speaker 2: Jackson, Yeah, finally.
Speaker 1: Now, of course it's going to be at the end
Speaker 1: of the season. Who knows where things could be injury wise.
Speaker 1: Anything can happen in this league. But in week seventeen,
Speaker 1: the Packers will be hosting the Baltimore Ravens either on
Speaker 1: Saturday or Sunday. It's one of those games that could
Speaker 1: that could end up being chosen for either day. But
Speaker 1: the only time in the Lamar Jackson era that the
Speaker 1: Packers and the Ravens have met was in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: and Lamar Jackson was hurt and Tyler Huntley was the
Speaker 1: quarterback for the Ravens in that game. Another one that
Speaker 1: we were not there for in Baltimore, and another one
Speaker 1: that was kind of crazy coming right down to the
Speaker 1: end and the Packers had to stop a two point
Speaker 1: conversion in order to win the game as the as
Speaker 1: Huntley was leading this like two touchdown comeback in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. But I'll be I'll be really intrigued to
Speaker 1: potentially see Lamar Jackson, you know, live and playing for real,
Speaker 1: not just in a preseason game, but uh but live
Speaker 1: and here we go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was just it was impressive just watch him
Speaker 2: in the you know, the joint Yeah, the joint practice,
Speaker 2: you know. And just I mean the guy moves different,
Speaker 2: he throws a ball different, and just he is he
Speaker 2: is a specimen in every every way you could put
Speaker 2: it in, one of the more unique skill sets of
Speaker 2: this generation of quarterbacks. Yeah, So it'll be really neat.
Speaker 2: It's it's also curious that it's going to have that
Speaker 2: sort of December flavor to it as well, seeing how
Speaker 2: those elements could potentially affect the game. The last week
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: Five, Yeah, and the Ravens have certainly played their share
Speaker 1: in the cold in the AFC North, and not only
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, but Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Cincinnati and all
Speaker 1: that they've they've played their share of cold weather games.
Speaker 1: And uh, I almost think like Lamar Jackson would be
Speaker 1: even more dangerous in the cold.
Speaker 2: For sure.
Speaker 1: He's already hard enough to tackle, and then you add
Speaker 1: you add the element into it, and it could it
Speaker 1: could be even more difficult there. Yeah, your thoughts also
Speaker 1: on the defending Super Bowl champs and the team that
Speaker 1: knocked the Packers out of the playoffs last year coming
Speaker 1: to Lambeufield. The Eagles will be in Green Bay for
Speaker 1: a Monday night contest and that will be in November,
Speaker 1: November tenth.
Speaker 2: If we're we're getting close here to the end of
Speaker 2: May here, So we'll see what happens as far as
Speaker 2: these tush push guidelines, and you know, the NFL tabled
Speaker 2: the discussions. It'd be interesting to see if the Philadelphi
Speaker 2: Eagles get a different reception to what they've been giving
Speaker 2: out as it relates to that, if that happens to
Speaker 2: make its way into the season in the schedule and
Speaker 2: still being allowed in that particular form, this season, I'd
Speaker 2: be curious, you know, Packer fans would respond to seeing it.
Speaker 2: That being said, it's a very good opponent, very tough opponent,
Speaker 2: and one of the more well rounded teams in the
Speaker 2: National Football League in terms of their construct I really
Speaker 2: like how Howie Roseman has built this team. Huge offensive lines,
Speaker 2: athletic offensive lines, but they have been as good as
Speaker 2: anybody in the National Football League. When you're talking about
Speaker 2: why does this team become a super Bowl champion, Well,
Speaker 2: it's because they've drafted well and they've signed players very well.
Speaker 2: Howie Roseman has not missed a lot of his swings lately.
Speaker 2: It just seems like things have kind of fallen their
Speaker 2: way in a lot of regards, and this will be
Speaker 2: a huge test for the Packers. I mean, again, there's
Speaker 2: a reason why, Mike, when we were going into this week,
Speaker 2: you were talking about I think it's what the fifth
Speaker 2: or sixth most difficult schedule based on last year. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that Green Bay has and that doesn't necessarily tell you
Speaker 2: it's going to be that way again. Things can change quickly.
Speaker 2: It happened a few years ago for the Packers where
Speaker 2: I think it was the twenty twenty two season. It
Speaker 2: looked like it was going to be really yah.
Speaker 1: Supposedly it was an easy schedule based on the records
Speaker 1: from the prior year, and then everything kind of flipped
Speaker 1: in terms of the expectations for certain teams.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was. Was it the East? One
Speaker 2: of the teams has just played out of their mind
Speaker 2: relative to what everybody thought. Well, the Giants were one
Speaker 2: of them.
Speaker 1: They beat the Packers in London and ended up going
Speaker 1: on to win road playoff game in Minnesota. When, yes,
Speaker 1: when that season was all said and done. The other
Speaker 1: thing that you were talking about the Eagles, We were
Speaker 1: talking about the Lions earlier and losing both coordinators. The
Speaker 1: Eagles are an interesting story because a few years back,
Speaker 1: they go to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: They lose a.
Speaker 1: Close one in the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Right at the end of the game, they lose both
Speaker 1: of their coordinators to head coaching jobs. They come back
Speaker 1: the next year and they start ten to one. They're
Speaker 1: looking like they're headed for the number one seed in
Speaker 1: the NFC playoffs. Everything completely unravels over the last two
Speaker 1: months of the regular season. They end up getting into
Speaker 1: the playoffs as a wild card. They go one and
Speaker 1: done and they're out, and then they come back the
Speaker 1: next year and they win, and they win the whole thing.
Speaker 1: So you just you just never know in this league.
Speaker 1: And whether any of that will apply to the Detroit
Speaker 1: Lions and what they're going to be going through this year,
Speaker 1: who knows.
Speaker 2: But we've done so many shows. I can't remember if
Speaker 2: you brought this up on this one or if it
Speaker 2: was on the Live Q and A. We did too,
Speaker 2: But your point about the Denver Broncos too, and the
Speaker 2: fact that the Packers could potentially play a cold weather
Speaker 2: at no game at elevation is very interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at Denver, at Denver in the middle of December.
Speaker 1: It's very rare, for rare in this franchise's history, or
Speaker 1: at least in the last you know, forty years of
Speaker 1: this franchise's history, to play a road game in the snow. Now,
Speaker 1: we don't know if it's going to be a snow
Speaker 1: game in the mountains that day, that day out in Denver,
Speaker 1: but it would really be It would really be interesting
Speaker 1: to see the Packers, you know, wearing the road uniforms
Speaker 1: and yet having all the snow falling around, because we've
Speaker 1: seen it so often at Lambeau, but it doesn't happen
Speaker 1: away from home very often.
Speaker 2: And I forgot the point I was trying to make
Speaker 2: with the Baltimore Ravens. By the way, I found the
Speaker 2: stat and I think it was our communications department. I
Speaker 2: create my superlatives, they do theirs. Never this is the
Speaker 2: point I was trying to bring it back full circle.
Speaker 2: Lates the Packers have ever played the Ravens too in
Speaker 2: the season week seventeen, Week seventeen, late in the season.
Speaker 2: So if the Ravens are who everybody thinks they are,
Speaker 2: and they've been the last few years, and the Packers
Speaker 2: can continue to capitalize on their youth and their optimism
Speaker 2: and obviously their upside, that could be a really interesting
Speaker 2: intraconference game that late in the season.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, well with that, we will call it a
Speaker 1: rap on this edition of Packers Unscript. It'd be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team on
Speaker 1: Packers dot com and if you want anything on the schedule,
Speaker 1: we've got stories. There's a great schedule release video. Hats
Speaker 1: off to our social media team and all the folks
Speaker 1: that were involved in that had a lot of fun
Speaker 1: doing it. We don't take ourselves too seriously as you
Speaker 1: can probably tell, but stories, videos, everything with regard to
Speaker 1: the schedule, graphics, cool stuff you can print out, put
Speaker 1: it on your refrigerator and gear up for when September
Speaker 1: rolls around. But with that for Wes, I am Mike,
Speaker 1: thank you for tuning in everybody, and we will see
Speaker 1: you next time.