Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spafford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by the one the only Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you here from our studios at lambeau Field to talk
Speaker 1: about the Packers' twenty twenty four schedule. Wes. The schedule
Speaker 1: is out. It has seventeen regular season games on it.
Speaker 1: I was hoping for sixteen, nine at home, eight on
Speaker 1: the road. We knew all that beforehand. We knew who
Speaker 1: the opponents would be. Now we know the order, we
Speaker 1: know the game times. Just your initial impression when you
Speaker 1: took a glance at the schedule, what jumped out at
Speaker 1: you first?
Speaker 2: Nothing? Which is interesting because there were so many years
Speaker 2: where there'd be like an early bye week or some
Speaker 2: bizarre stretch of road, or you know, some things that
Speaker 2: just catch right. This was the most, as I wrote
Speaker 2: in our Insider Inbox column, the most straightforward schedule I
Speaker 2: think the Packers have had in all my years covering
Speaker 2: the team. To answer your question truthfully, it is that
Speaker 2: primetime slate of games. Four straight weeks of primetime games
Speaker 2: late in the season, including that Thursday night Thanksgiving game.
Speaker 2: Against the Miami Dolphins. But by and large, Mike, it
Speaker 2: was a very balanced schedule. The Packers got the bye
Speaker 2: week's smack dab in the middle of the season. There's
Speaker 2: no week once for once, there's no Week four, there's
Speaker 2: no Week fourteen, Week thirteen, Week five. No, it's right
Speaker 2: there in Week ten. Some pivotal games sandwiched around that.
Speaker 2: Being able to host the Detroit Lions. You want to
Speaker 2: win that one going into the bye week. You and
Speaker 2: I'll be talking about that leading into that game, sure,
Speaker 2: and then on the other side of it, facing Caleb
Speaker 2: Williams for the first time. I believe on that one. Yeah,
Speaker 2: because they'll get them on the finale at Lambo. So
Speaker 2: pretty straightforward schedule, and honestly, I think for the Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers, especially with that start in Brazil, as normal
Speaker 2: as you could hope for. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. As you said, the bye week is in a
Speaker 1: normal spot for the first time in a long time.
Speaker 1: It's after nine games and then eight games beyond that,
Speaker 1: So that's as close to the middle as you're going
Speaker 1: to get with an odd number of regular season games.
Speaker 1: A couple other things that jumped out at me, and
Speaker 1: we'll talk a little bit more about about the stretch
Speaker 1: of primetime games late in the year, which which really
Speaker 1: is an anomaly. It's it's the one true, like quirky
Speaker 1: thing about this schedule, quite frankly. But the other thing
Speaker 1: too is other than during that stretch of primetime games
Speaker 1: late November and early December, the Packers don't have back
Speaker 1: to back road games except for when they have the
Speaker 1: Thursday night game at Detroit in early December and then
Speaker 1: ten days later they have another night game at Seattle. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: you know, every time the Packers go on the road,
Speaker 1: they come back, you're not preparing to go right back
Speaker 1: on the again for another game. I think that's something
Speaker 1: that could really benefit this team because, as you said,
Speaker 1: there every year there seems to be a stretch where it's,
Speaker 1: you know, four road games in five weeks or you know,
Speaker 1: something like that. Obviously, this year, with the Packers having
Speaker 1: the extra home game, nine home games versus eight road games,
Speaker 1: and then one of the road games was already known
Speaker 1: as the trip to Brazil early in the season, and
Speaker 1: you kind of figured that the NFL would put a
Speaker 1: home game in Week two after the Packers are coming
Speaker 1: back from that long flight, and that's h and that's
Speaker 1: exactly what happened. I think in that respect, the schedule,
Speaker 1: the schedule sets up nicely because you don't look at
Speaker 1: it from a travel standpoints as saying like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: going to be you know that that's going to be
Speaker 1: really tough on everybody. That that's sort of what what jumped.
Speaker 2: Out of It is the craziest thing, Mike, because the
Speaker 2: most difficult challenge I'm talking just from a pure body
Speaker 2: composition standpoint is going to Brazil and then coming back
Speaker 2: nine days later than you got the Indianapol. Yeah, making
Speaker 2: that type of time difference, trying to use the long
Speaker 2: weekend to sort of reacclimate yourself to Central time zone
Speaker 2: and all that type of stuff, and getting your sleep
Speaker 2: cycle back. But overall, I mean, even when you look
Speaker 2: at the back to back games that they have Sunday,
Speaker 2: November twenty fourth against San Francisco at home, then they
Speaker 2: come back and on Thursday play the Thanksgiving game against Miami,
Speaker 2: Well that's two that starts two weeks after they're bye,
Speaker 2: so it's not even like you've gone through this long,
Speaker 2: arduous sort of stretch and then you get the two
Speaker 2: games in four days. Even then you're relatively rested, you
Speaker 2: would hope, because it's just the game going down to Chicago.
Speaker 2: That forty minute flight down to Chicago that runs before
Speaker 2: that the part that I love. And again you never
Speaker 2: know how these things are gonna go flex scheduling and
Speaker 2: everything that goes into that. But the season starts with
Speaker 2: four straight home games at noon Central start times Indianapolis Colts, which,
Speaker 2: by the way, I love that matchup because it gives
Speaker 2: the Packers, you know, Anthony Richardson coming back hopefully healthy
Speaker 2: once again, and Jordan I mean, two of the more
Speaker 2: recognizable young quarterbacks in this league. Could be very exciting
Speaker 2: from that standpoint. Then you get the Minnesota excuse me,
Speaker 2: you get the Minnesota Vikings Aaron Jones coming back, and
Speaker 2: then you get the back to back games with Arizona
Speaker 2: and then the Houston Texans, which is a game that
Speaker 2: you pointed out seeing the reigning NFL offensive rookie of
Speaker 2: the Year in CJ. Stroud. It's an exciting stretch to
Speaker 2: begin the season, and then on the back half of
Speaker 2: it you have some big games with some huge implications.
Speaker 2: But in some ways it also lines up okay with
Speaker 2: the way the home slate sort of works. Itself out.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think another thing that I like, because this
Speaker 1: doesn't always happen, is that the one time the Packers
Speaker 1: are on the short week with regard to the Thursday game,
Speaker 1: not only is the Thursday game at home, which is
Speaker 1: the Thanksgiving night against the Miami Dolphins. The Packers have
Speaker 1: another Thursday game the following week at Detroit. But obviously
Speaker 1: you're not on a short week there because you're going
Speaker 1: Thursday to Thursday. But when you're on the short week,
Speaker 1: you have that game at home, there isn't the travel involved,
Speaker 1: and the Sunday before you're at home, so you're not
Speaker 1: coming back from a road game, and then suddenly you
Speaker 1: know you're cramming in that short week where then you
Speaker 1: know you're playing on a Thursday. Now, obviously that's a difficult,
Speaker 1: you know, that's a difficult two steps, so to speak.
Speaker 1: Two games in five days both at Lambo is nice,
Speaker 1: but San Francisco forty nine ers the Sunday before Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: which obviously is a rematch of the NFC Divisional Playoff
Speaker 1: from last year, and then the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving Night.
Speaker 1: That's back to back playoff teams. YEP from twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: that you're playing in a span of five days.
Speaker 2: I do need someone from the league to actually explain
Speaker 2: to me, like why the Packers keep getting matched against
Speaker 2: Miami for holiday games?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is really that is strange. Twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: it was Christmas Christmas in Miami and now this year
Speaker 1: it's a Thanksgiving at Lambo.
Speaker 2: As uncommon opponents go. That's pretty strange. Yes, I don't
Speaker 2: know about you. I don't think about the dreen Bay
Speaker 2: Packers playing on Christmas in Miami, nor do I think
Speaker 2: of the Miami Dolphins being a Thanksgiving team. But be
Speaker 2: that as it is. This is the schedule that you
Speaker 2: have and the very unique swing of Miami Dolphins football,
Speaker 2: and then basically a regular seven day recovery stretch before
Speaker 2: you travel to Detroit. You make that leap across like
Speaker 2: Michigan overall again, even the back to back games, having
Speaker 2: the ten days between the two of them before you
Speaker 2: go to Seattle, which is a big stretch. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's a big trip. But yeah, it's pretty laid out,
Speaker 2: pretty good, Mike. It's pretty pretty wild that way.
Speaker 1: The other thing that's interesting, and this is what I
Speaker 1: wrote about on our website with regard to with regard
Speaker 1: to the four consecutive night games, and again just for
Speaker 1: the rundown. It starts Thanksgiving night with Miami at Lambeau,
Speaker 1: the following Thursday night at Detroit, then after the little
Speaker 1: Mini Bie on the weekend, the following Sunday night, you're
Speaker 1: at Seattle, and then you come back with the consecutive
Speaker 1: primetime game Monday Night Football, which is the Packers' only
Speaker 1: appearance this season on Monday Night Football, Monday Night Football
Speaker 1: against New Orleans. Here's the thing, though, if that Week
Speaker 1: eighteen game, which the way the NFL does things now,
Speaker 1: nothing is set in stone with red to Week eighteen,
Speaker 1: could be Saturday, could be Sunday. You don't know what
Speaker 1: time you're gonna kick off. A lot of that stuff
Speaker 1: gets determined kind of at the last minute, based on
Speaker 1: the playoff picture obviously, But that Week eighteen home game
Speaker 1: against the Bears, if the league decides to put that
Speaker 1: one in primetime, which you can't rule out, yep, No,
Speaker 1: then five of the last six regular season games will
Speaker 1: be night games for Green Bay. After having a stretch
Speaker 1: in the early part of the season where after the
Speaker 1: Packers come back from Brazil, they have six out of
Speaker 1: seven noon Central time kickoffs, which is the type of
Speaker 1: stretch that we haven't really seen in a long time
Speaker 1: around here. Either have a stretch of seven games and
Speaker 1: only one of them is not a noon Central time
Speaker 1: kick From a work standpoint for us, we love that, right. Yeah.
Speaker 2: From a marriage standpoint, it's kind of nice. Yeah. I
Speaker 2: remember two years ago, I think it was the Packers
Speaker 2: had one noon home game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was it.
Speaker 2: That was it. Yeah, So to have four right off
Speaker 2: the bat, like, that's pretty cool. I will say this too.
Speaker 2: I threw this in my news and notes. There's always
Speaker 2: something quirky about these schedules. I remember a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago. It was actually when I was still at
Speaker 2: the pres Gazette, I wrote about how the Packers, because
Speaker 2: the Vikings want to open US Bank Stadium against green Bay,
Speaker 2: green Bay ended up having back to back road games
Speaker 2: to start the season. That was the first time they'd
Speaker 2: done that in like ninety three years or something. Yeah,
Speaker 2: this particular schedule very interesting. Note for as often as
Speaker 2: the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have played each other,
Speaker 2: this is the first time since nineteen thirty two and
Speaker 2: thirty three that they've had back to back regular season
Speaker 2: finales against each other, and if you want to take
Speaker 2: it even further, it's the first time Green Bay has
Speaker 2: ever hosted the Chicago Bears in back back regular season finales.
Speaker 2: Just wild when you think about how many different schedules,
Speaker 2: how many different combinations, how many machinations of this NFL,
Speaker 2: you know, seasons have been created that we're gonna kind
Speaker 2: of see an opening first chapter here in a book
Speaker 2: that is pretty darn long.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's interesting too because because in you know,
Speaker 1: in sort of the recent Packers history, Packers Bears finales
Speaker 1: in the regular season have ended up having a lot
Speaker 1: of significance. You know, you look at obviously, twenty ten
Speaker 1: got the Packers in the playoffs, started them on the run.
Speaker 1: Twenty thirteen at Soldier Field was the division title on
Speaker 1: the line, with Rogers and Cob both coming back from
Speaker 1: long injuries, and we all know the fourth and eight
Speaker 1: from the forty eight, and then last year the Packers
Speaker 1: had to win that game to get into the playoffs
Speaker 1: and launched what almost became a very extended playoff run
Speaker 1: and and might have been if if not for letting
Speaker 1: that game in San Francisco just get away and final
Speaker 1: five minutes.
Speaker 2: You and I last week we were talking about the
Speaker 2: Detroit game. I had to laugh because I was rewatching
Speaker 2: parts of that episode in our last one earlier this week.
Speaker 2: I should say, you were talking about, Hey, maybe Detroit
Speaker 2: in the finale. I was like, hey, maybe week two
Speaker 2: versus Detroit, and they are gonna play a primetime game,
Speaker 2: a Thursday night football game there on December fifth. But
Speaker 2: it was funny to me that, you know, the two
Speaker 2: soothsayers over here kind of. I mean, we're all swinging
Speaker 2: at pitch as we can see, but right, it's still
Speaker 2: pretty funny that, oh, yeah, well maybe it'll be the finale. Well,
Speaker 2: maybe it'll be the beginning. Maybe it'll be both. It's
Speaker 2: actually neither. Yeah, so congratulations, Wes.
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Speaker 1: subs fifty plus years of better. All right, we know
Speaker 1: about you know, the Brazil game, and we know the
Speaker 1: significance of the division games and all that. Is there
Speaker 1: a game on this schedule that you know isn't really
Speaker 1: being talked about all that much or whatever, but that
Speaker 1: you think when the time comes, it's going to have
Speaker 1: maybe a bigger spotlight on it then we might predict
Speaker 1: at the moment.
Speaker 2: It's a really good question, Mike, because the one that
Speaker 2: when we did our instant reacts, you know, pick a
Speaker 2: game out that really jumps off the page. Whew, I said, Detroit.
Speaker 2: But it was for the exact opposite reason of what
Speaker 2: you're describing, because it was a team that's the defending
Speaker 2: NFC North champion that went to the NFC Championship game,
Speaker 2: came within a nail of getting to the Super Bowl,
Speaker 2: and you're going to host them the week before the
Speaker 2: bye week. So in terms of consequential games, I feel
Speaker 2: like that is the that is the close of the
Speaker 2: first half of the season. That's that's right before halftime,
Speaker 2: trying to run the two minute drill here, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: But the game if you if you structured under that construct.
Speaker 2: It probably is week five at the Los Angeles because
Speaker 2: that's where green Bay, you would hope, can build up,
Speaker 2: Like Mike McCarthy always used to talk about that quarter pole,
Speaker 2: that first quarter of the season, build up some momentum
Speaker 2: and take on a team that I thought, you know,
Speaker 2: green Bay made the big run and everybody was so
Speaker 2: excited about it. I thought that green Bay's run during
Speaker 2: the final six seven weeks of this season, it's sort
Speaker 2: of overshadowed everything the Rams were doing. Once Matthew Stafford
Speaker 2: got healthy, right, yeah, you know this. The Rams had
Speaker 2: quite the rally there too at the end of the season.
Speaker 2: And again, if there wasn't for the seventh game, they
Speaker 2: would have been able to close out that that last
Speaker 2: playoff spot. So for green Bay to go off of
Speaker 2: that start, get some early momentum hopefully, and then travel
Speaker 2: and play that first game out in Los Angeles against
Speaker 2: the Rams, I'm very interested, I should say at SOFI.
Speaker 2: Obviously they played at the Coliseum in eighteen, but that's
Speaker 2: gonna be kind of a little bit of a meter
Speaker 2: and you know, measuring stick moment because then you come
Speaker 2: back and you know, you have Arizona and then we'll
Speaker 2: see where things go for the Cardinals, but then you
Speaker 2: have Houston, then you have Detroit, then things really start
Speaker 2: to ramp up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and as I mentioned in the video that the
Speaker 1: video that we shot with Larry, I kind of had
Speaker 1: my eye on this, you know, regardless of where it
Speaker 1: was going to fall in the schedule. But this whole
Speaker 1: matchup with Houston, which ends up in Week seven, it's
Speaker 1: a noon start at Lambeufield Sunday, October twentieth. You have
Speaker 1: the Packers and the Texans, two teams that a year
Speaker 1: ago at this time, nobody would have said they're going
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. In twenty twenty three, they were the
Speaker 1: two teams really the one team from each conference that
Speaker 1: were the surprise playoff qualifiers. And then, as you mentioned before,
Speaker 1: it's c. J. Stroud, the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of
Speaker 1: the Year, Jordan Love at quarterback. These two guys, you know,
Speaker 1: young up and coming quarterbacks who could be big time
Speaker 1: stars in this league for a long time to come,
Speaker 1: and this will be their first matchup. And it's a
Speaker 1: matchup because of Houston being in the AFC, it's not
Speaker 1: one that you're going to see all that often. Potentially
Speaker 1: more than once every four years because of that seventeenth
Speaker 1: game thing. Now, but still AFC versus NFC, these two
Speaker 1: young quarterbacks, they're not going to square off a whole
Speaker 1: heck of a lot. And uh, and this is the
Speaker 1: first one here in October.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you won't hear me complaining either. I really want
Speaker 2: to go to Energy. I have not been to Energy yet,
Speaker 2: I miss. That's right.
Speaker 1: You had you had mentioned that that that's one. That's
Speaker 1: one one of three I haven't been to. I've I
Speaker 1: distinctly remember that the time I was there, that twenty
Speaker 1: twelve Sunday night football game where the Texans were either
Speaker 1: four and oh or five and o or whatever. There was, yeah,
Speaker 1: five and oh, and the Packers were kind of struggling
Speaker 1: because they had they had they had lost the Fail
Speaker 1: Mary game in Seattle. They had lost on another kind
Speaker 1: of a tough controversial decision in Indianapolis because of a
Speaker 1: because of a roughing the passer thing where it looked
Speaker 1: like the Packers were gonna get a strip sack and
Speaker 1: that got taken away. And then they go down they
Speaker 1: go down to Houston, and you know, Aaron Rodgers throws
Speaker 1: for a gazillion touchdowns and they completely blow out the
Speaker 1: last undefeated team in the NFL. Still, that season.
Speaker 2: To me the most one of the most bizarre seasons
Speaker 2: that not the Packers. Well, I'll flip this both ways.
Speaker 2: Let's start where I was gonna say about the Texans.
Speaker 2: That was the Texans only lost in their first twelve games.
Speaker 2: So not only did was they the last team undefeated
Speaker 2: team to lose, they went on a six game winning
Speaker 2: streak after that.
Speaker 1: I didn't even realize that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then they kind of taint yeah at.
Speaker 1: The end of the sea. That's probably why I don't
Speaker 1: really remember it, because they ended up they did end
Speaker 1: up fading badly at the end of that season.
Speaker 2: And then they ended up getting beat by the Patriots
Speaker 2: in the playoffs Green Bay. I've always maintained this is
Speaker 2: not where I want this conversation to go, but we're
Speaker 2: going there, so I'm just gonna drive and sit in
Speaker 2: the seat and drive. I've always said the twenty twelve
Speaker 2: season is one of the most one of the best
Speaker 2: Packers seasons that no one ever talks about, yep, because
Speaker 2: that was actually a pretty good team was ranked eleventh
Speaker 2: that year. They actually krik Casey Hayward was a Rookie
Speaker 2: of the Year finalist on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 2: But then the Kaepernick game happened and you had the
Speaker 2: fail Mary earlier in the season. There's so many things
Speaker 2: that people remember about that year for the wrong reasons.
Speaker 2: But all that being said, yeah, the exciting thing to
Speaker 2: bring it back to this thing about Stroud is you
Speaker 2: covered the early days of Aaron Rodgers. I did not.
Speaker 2: I was covering Green Bay prebble track and field in Luxembourg,
Speaker 2: Castle wrestling in all those times.
Speaker 1: I did that for a long time myself as well.
Speaker 1: During the Brett Favra, That's what I was doing. But
Speaker 1: much of the Brett FAVERI.
Speaker 2: What you saw that I did not see unless I
Speaker 2: was watching it on Sundays was Aaron Rodgers taken on
Speaker 2: Drew Brees for the first time, Aaron Rodgers taken on
Speaker 2: Tom Brady for the first time, Peyton Manning. The list
Speaker 2: goes on and on, and the exciting thing about Jordan
Speaker 2: at this at this part of it is you are
Speaker 2: going to see Anthony Richardson, you are going to see c. J. Stroud,
Speaker 2: You're going to see some of these young up and comers.
Speaker 2: We'll see what can happen here with Caleb Williams, Jared
Speaker 2: Goff's second highest paid quarterback in the NFL. Now that
Speaker 2: Jordan has established himself and you still have to stay
Speaker 2: on that track and you know, keep keep climbing, but
Speaker 2: now you aren't so much thinking about, Okay, well how
Speaker 2: is Jordan gonna play against this particular defense. You start
Speaker 2: to get sort of the celebrity, the off factor fact
Speaker 2: going into these games, and that it was fun this
Speaker 2: compared to last year where there were so many questions
Speaker 2: about the Packers and the players and the young, you know,
Speaker 2: youth of this roster. Well, this year, when I was
Speaker 2: looking at the schedule and how it laid out, I'm
Speaker 2: thinking a lot of times of like, oh, Jordan love
Speaker 2: verus this team. You know, you look at you know
Speaker 2: guy like, you know, Josh Jacobs, what's he going to
Speaker 2: do against this defense? Yeah, that's cool, And that's what
Speaker 2: happens when you're a contending team.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I didn't realize this until until you know, we
Speaker 1: turned on the cameras and started diving into this a
Speaker 1: little bit more. But you know, the the whole AFC
Speaker 1: NFC thing. This year, the NFC North is matched up
Speaker 1: with the AFC South, So everybody in the NFC North
Speaker 1: is going to play every team in the AFC South
Speaker 1: over the course of the season. The Packers have those
Speaker 1: four games against the AFC Souths within the first eight
Speaker 1: weeks of the season. Yep, like those those four matchups.
Speaker 1: So then after that, the only AFC matchup you have
Speaker 1: left is the quote unquote seventeenth game, which which in
Speaker 1: this case becomes the Miami game on Thanksgiving Night at Lambo.
Speaker 1: So just kind of interesting in a sense how that fell.
Speaker 1: The four games against the AFC South. It's back to
Speaker 1: back weeks two and three home against Indie road at Tennessee,
Speaker 1: and then back to back weeks seven and eight home
Speaker 1: against Houston on the road at Jacksonville. Just you know,
Speaker 1: kind of fit those games in a nice, neat little
Speaker 1: packages early in the season instead of being in like
Speaker 1: weird spots or whatever. And again, as we started the
Speaker 1: whole conversation, the only thing about this schedule that feels
Speaker 1: quirky to me is the run of four consecutive primetime
Speaker 1: games starting on Thanksgiving Night, which I can't ever remember
Speaker 1: four consecutive primetime games, and that could turn into five
Speaker 1: primetime games in a span of six in a span
Speaker 1: of six if the Week eighteen game against Chicago ends
Speaker 1: up at night as well.
Speaker 2: Well, in the fact that you remember, it may be
Speaker 2: kind of a scheduling quirk that did they end up
Speaker 2: being four straight primetime games, but it's not. It's not
Speaker 2: an oversight that it happened in the second half of
Speaker 2: the season, that happened down the stretch. Sure that tells
Speaker 2: you that the NHL, you know, sees these teams, the
Speaker 2: teams that they're playing. I mean, there's no pushovers in
Speaker 2: that group either. I mean, I understand that Seattle didn't
Speaker 2: make the playoffs last year, in New Orleans didn't, but
Speaker 2: they were both alive the last week, last week of
Speaker 2: the season last year. So that part of it's really
Speaker 2: interesting to me. The other thing I always want to say,
Speaker 2: because so many people always bring this up an inbox
Speaker 2: that we talk about, is, you know, the strength of schedule.
Speaker 2: And I answered it this week, like why is the Packers'
Speaker 2: schedule harder than the Lions? And again that's all subjective.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got I got that. I got that question
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago and tried to explain, you know,
Speaker 1: based on based on the matchups and how it works
Speaker 1: how either the Packers strength of schedule based on records
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three records of their opponents. The Packers'
Speaker 1: schedule is the fifth hardest in the NFL for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four as of right now.
Speaker 2: But the thing I always tell people is one one
Speaker 2: season does not dictate the next. You can ask the
Speaker 2: twenty two Packers that, yeah, and that schedule end up
Speaker 2: lying up to me, the more important thing is how
Speaker 2: your season lays out, rather than exactly who you're playing.
Speaker 2: You know, And I even heard I think Larry Mchaern
Speaker 2: was mentioning earlier today, it's about when you play certain teams.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at one point hear you hear that a lot
Speaker 1: around this league. The longer, the longer you're connected to
Speaker 1: this league, you hear it a lot. It's not it's
Speaker 1: not who you play, it's when you play them. And
Speaker 1: and that that does end up playing a big factor
Speaker 1: in that respect. Not exactly sad to see that that,
Speaker 1: you know, Miami of Florida team might be coming here
Speaker 1: when it's a little chilly on Thanksgiving night, and New
Speaker 1: Orleans a Southern Dome team coming here two nights before Christmas,
Speaker 1: when it could be even a little bit colder. Yet
Speaker 1: those kinds of those are the little things that might
Speaker 1: work in Green Bay.
Speaker 2: And then the other aspect of it too is that,
Speaker 2: you know, I think back to last year with Atlanta,
Speaker 2: I would make no predictions in terms of how certain
Speaker 2: games would have played out, but in the Packers actually
Speaker 2: controlled most of that week to matchup against the Falcons.
Speaker 2: But if you play that game in December as opposed
Speaker 2: to September, yes, those are two very different teams by
Speaker 2: the end of the season, one trending up, one trending down.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and it's it's.
Speaker 2: Just all about where you catch, guys. But the only
Speaker 2: thing you can hope for. And again, we'll see what
Speaker 2: Matt Lafleures say about and we'll see how things line
Speaker 2: up for green Bay once we get into this thing
Speaker 2: and how things look after Brazil. But for green Bay
Speaker 2: having a very unique and an unprecedented start to the
Speaker 2: season by traveling to South America, after that, I felt
Speaker 2: like it lined up pretty well for them. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Well, all that's left is to play the games
Speaker 1: right west now.
Speaker 2: Well, and we also got to OTAs and Maniki, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: that's right, and shareholders meeting and.
Speaker 1: The players actually have to get ready to play this
Speaker 1: season now, even though you and I are ready to go.
Speaker 2: Just I sort of man, I want I don't want
Speaker 2: to do the whole like click or whatever that Adam
Speaker 2: Sandler movie thing was. But like it's like sometimes with
Speaker 2: the stuff. It's Mike, we had a we had an
Speaker 2: announcement for announcement this week for a scheduling, and.
Speaker 1: Then they were they were, they were trickling out these
Speaker 1: uh you know, these big matchups. One yeah, one like
Speaker 1: Tom Brady's Fox broadcast debut is going to be this game.
Speaker 1: And then you know, they even released like a week
Speaker 1: two game I think or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think half of that Kansas City
Speaker 2: our schedule was out by the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the thing is all about all about Kansas City.
Speaker 1: Kansas City is starting the season with the Ravens and
Speaker 1: the Bengals back to back. Yeah, I mean, my goodness,
Speaker 1: you know, and those are you know, obviously two of
Speaker 1: their biggest playoff rivals at this point, and then you
Speaker 1: know they're not even into their their division rivalries.
Speaker 2: I think you want to wrap up, but can I
Speaker 2: ask you this quick? Do you think we've ever had
Speaker 2: a team in the National Football League with two bigger
Speaker 2: stars than Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey. I mean, Trent
Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes has become the face of this league. Yes,
Speaker 2: and he's a future Hall of Famer. I think he's
Speaker 2: what twenty eight years old, He's already in the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame. Just put him in there. It's the first ballot.
Speaker 2: And then Travis Kelcey one, he's a Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: tight end. But two, obviously, the relationship with Taylor Swift.
Speaker 2: That's about as Hollywood It's as a team has gotten.
Speaker 1: I would I would say, I would say it's I
Speaker 1: would say it's reminiscent. But in the instance I'm going
Speaker 1: to bring up, it was three players Aikman, EMMITTT Smith
Speaker 1: and Michael Irvin with that Cowboys dynasty that won three
Speaker 1: Super Bowls in four years back in the back in
Speaker 1: the early nineties. It's reminiscent of that in terms of
Speaker 1: in terms of multiple guys on the same team kind
Speaker 1: of being the face of the league. Yeah, in the
Speaker 1: in Kansas City's case, it really is those two guys.
Speaker 1: In the Cowboys case, thirty years ago, it was it
Speaker 1: was three guys and the and a head coach who
Speaker 1: not taking anything away from Andy Reid, but a head
Speaker 1: coach that was a little bit more bombast is Miami
Speaker 1: personality wise, was out there right in Jimmy Johnson.
Speaker 2: So yeah, no, it's interesting and it's fun. And again,
Speaker 2: I remember last year when they booked the Chiefs and
Speaker 2: Packers for a primetime game. I mean, this is what
Speaker 2: happens when you have a young ascending quarterback. You're gonna
Speaker 2: see more of these things happen. I said it to
Speaker 2: you and Unscripted, I expected us to have a five
Speaker 2: primetime games. That's how it worked out. Yep. Really looking
Speaker 2: forward to covering game in Brazil with you at nine
Speaker 2: to fifteen local. And I'm sure you and I won't
Speaker 2: hate each other when by the time we're flying back
Speaker 2: into Green Bay that following day, will be totally cool
Speaker 2: with each other. We won't be tired and agitated or
Speaker 2: anything at all playing the game.
Speaker 1: Not not after sitting around in a hotel in Salpolo
Speaker 1: for two days just waiting to cover a football.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'll get some sun.
Speaker 1: Yeah maybe. All right with that, we're gonna call it
Speaker 1: a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team, all
Speaker 1: sorts of coverage of the schedule. What's out there. We
Speaker 1: got stories, we got videos. It's all there for you
Speaker 1: on packers dot com for well I Mike, thank you
Speaker 1: for tuning in.
Speaker 2: Everybody.
Speaker 1: We will see you next time.
Speaker 2: M HM.