Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted Social
Speaker 1: Distancing Style from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford,
Speaker 1: joined as always by my trusted colleague West hod Kuwitz,
Speaker 1: coming to you from our home office is nowhere near
Speaker 1: the banks of the Fox River, but West the Packers
Speaker 1: schedule for is out, and so we will spend this
Speaker 1: episode pontificating about said schedule. When you saw it, what
Speaker 1: was your first impression? Very interesting and it's it's funny.
Speaker 1: I mentioned this during our three Things videos and I
Speaker 1: don't want to just keep, you know, parroting myself here,
Speaker 1: but that's the thing that always strikes me. You can
Speaker 1: do these things a hundred times, you can do all
Speaker 1: these different types of schedules, there always ends up being
Speaker 1: some kind of weird thing that happens that's never happened
Speaker 1: before that you didn't realize until you look at this schedule.
Speaker 1: I think fact I think it was what Jacksonville in sixteen,
Speaker 1: that was the first time the Packers had like back
Speaker 1: to back road games to start a season in like
Speaker 1: nine seven years. Crazy this one. It's a very small
Speaker 1: little factoid in it. Obviously a lot of questions still
Speaker 1: out there about what's going to happen. But the creep
Speaker 1: Ba Packers have never opened the season at Minnesota before,
Speaker 1: lo and behold, here we are in two thousand twenty
Speaker 1: first time, and what for fifty nine years for the
Speaker 1: Minnesota vikings openers. They're gonna host the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: and an opener at least scheduled too. So that's part
Speaker 1: of it. I love about the you know, you get
Speaker 1: you look at the schedule and you try to figure
Speaker 1: out different little things and factoids and weird stuff that happens.
Speaker 1: And there's your one, because I tell you right now, Mike,
Speaker 1: if you it all started when I was looking through it, like, okay,
Speaker 1: when was the last time the Packers started the season Minnesota. Oh,
Speaker 1: it hasn't happened before. Well, and the Packers certainly this
Speaker 1: was to be expected. The Packers have the maximum five
Speaker 1: prime time games at least at this point in terms
Speaker 1: of how this schedule lays out, and you know, the
Speaker 1: flex scheduling late in the year, you know, things can
Speaker 1: change and all that. But a couple of things about
Speaker 1: that that struck me. One is that, of course, the
Speaker 1: Packers trip to New Orleans is once again in prime
Speaker 1: time Aaron Rodgers has played against Drew Brees at the
Speaker 1: Superdome in New Orleans twice two thousand eight, two thousand
Speaker 1: and fourteen, both times in prime time, so of course
Speaker 1: this one's in prime time again. But the one that's
Speaker 1: not in prime time is Aaron Rodgers against Tom Brady
Speaker 1: down in Tampa. I don't know what deal with the
Speaker 1: devil Fox Sports made here West, but I am telling
Speaker 1: you I was absolutely convinced that game would be in
Speaker 1: prime time Rodgers against Brady, but Fox somehow managed to
Speaker 1: prevent that game from going to either NBC or ESPN
Speaker 1: for a prime time slot. It's a late afternoon, it'll
Speaker 1: obviously be the National Sunday doubleheader down in Tampa. And hey,
Speaker 1: from a work stand point, I'm not complaining because road
Speaker 1: games in prime time are the hardest for us. Flying
Speaker 1: back in the middle of the night, trying to write
Speaker 1: our stories and update the website on the plane at
Speaker 1: you know, to three in the morning. It's not fun, Okay,
Speaker 1: So I'm not complaining from a work standpoint that this
Speaker 1: game is not in prime time. I'm just stunned that
Speaker 1: it's not in prime time. Well, and like Mike, look
Speaker 1: at it. This way to right New Orleans in Green Bay,
Speaker 1: you expect that to be in prime time Atlanta and
Speaker 1: Green Bay. Okay, the history there with Matt Ryan, potentially
Speaker 1: in prime time San Francisco, that's been a big rivalry
Speaker 1: here as of late Chicago Tennessee. If you would have
Speaker 1: laid out all five of those primetime games and then
Speaker 1: also through the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in there, I would
Speaker 1: have said, whatever combination that those five are gonna be,
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers are gonna be at one of those permutations.
Speaker 1: And they weren't to see a three Central start time
Speaker 1: for that matchup. It blew me away because in two
Speaker 1: thousand and eighteen we were raw. You know, you don't
Speaker 1: get these opportunities to to see Rogers and in in
Speaker 1: Brady very often, and here's one that just falls into
Speaker 1: everybody's lap. And unfortunately for the Green Bay Packers and
Speaker 1: I think a lot of national people fans, they're not
Speaker 1: going to get that in primetime. My guests would be
Speaker 1: is you know, I'm the Fox would end up throwing
Speaker 1: that into a national spotlight. Yet even if it is
Speaker 1: at three, yeah, I think it absolutely will be there.
Speaker 1: But the other the other thing that really struck me
Speaker 1: when I first saw the schedule. West the Packers by
Speaker 1: is scheduled for Week five, so sort of your first
Speaker 1: quarter of the season weeks one through four. But then
Speaker 1: the game at Tampa Bay Rodgers versus Brady starts the
Speaker 1: post by stretch, and that actually becomes sort of a
Speaker 1: gauntlet here for the Packers through the middle portion of
Speaker 1: the schedule because after the game at Tampa Bay, the
Speaker 1: Packers are going to play three teams that were playoff
Speaker 1: teams in twenty nineteen consecutively in a span of just
Speaker 1: twelve days. You go on the road to he Houston,
Speaker 1: you come home to play Minnesota. The second game with
Speaker 1: the Vikings is done by November one, which is another
Speaker 1: thing to me that's weird about the schedule that by
Speaker 1: the midway point, essentially the Packers and Vikings are done playing.
Speaker 1: So that's odd. But at Houston, then Minnesota, and then
Speaker 1: at San Francisco on a Thursday night, So in a
Speaker 1: span of twelve days, including a four hour West coast
Speaker 1: trip on a short week, you're playing three teams that
Speaker 1: made the playoffs in nineteen. That's going to be I
Speaker 1: don't like to call things make or break because that
Speaker 1: early in the season. Nothing's necessarily make or break, but
Speaker 1: we're gonna find out a lot about the green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers as they navigate that portion of the schedule. In
Speaker 1: my opinion, Yeah, and it's very interesting and you laid
Speaker 1: it out there perfectly in terms of what the Packers
Speaker 1: are potentially going to be up against. The other thing
Speaker 1: I keep going back to is, yeah, you have that
Speaker 1: Thursday night game against San Francisco, a lot of bad
Speaker 1: memories there for green Bay. You do come home and
Speaker 1: you get Gardner Minshew likely in the Jacksonville Jaguars, but
Speaker 1: then you're going to Indianapolis, and then who is waiting
Speaker 1: for you there. It's Philip Rivers, one of the big
Speaker 1: thorns in the Packers side here over the last ten years.
Speaker 1: So uh, there are It's gonna be a big challenge.
Speaker 1: And I think when you look at the true story
Speaker 1: of the schedule and the way it lays out, it
Speaker 1: goes back to what I was saying before. I mean,
Speaker 1: last year they kind of hit a gauntlet too there
Speaker 1: in the middle of the season. This is where you
Speaker 1: get challenged, this is where you're grit and determination really
Speaker 1: gets stressed. And it's going to be a make or
Speaker 1: break moment, I think for the Packers at times working
Speaker 1: through that. The other thing that is interesting because I
Speaker 1: know there were some reports out there about Okay, they're
Speaker 1: gonna put all the division games and in the last
Speaker 1: month of the season, and they're gonna load things up
Speaker 1: depending on all this. The fact that both of the
Speaker 1: Minnesota games ended up getting you know, put into the
Speaker 1: first eight weeks of the season, that's very interesting because
Speaker 1: the last few years, there's been a lot of mark
Speaker 1: key matchups between those two teams late in the year,
Speaker 1: and now here they are two teams that have been
Speaker 1: i would say the most consistent performers in the NFC
Speaker 1: North and really the conference in general over the last
Speaker 1: five ten years, and now you're gonna knock both of
Speaker 1: these out in the first two months of the season.
Speaker 1: That's very interesting to seek that play out the way
Speaker 1: it fits. Yeah, and I don't want to sound like
Speaker 1: somebody who's complaining here, but the Packers, and the Packers
Speaker 1: are not the only team to have this happen to them.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, this Thursday night game at San Francisco,
Speaker 1: having teams having to travel across multiple time zones on
Speaker 1: a short week to play a Thursday night game. That
Speaker 1: to me, that is such a disadvantage for the road team.
Speaker 1: You know, the Packers did it a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: having to go to Seattle to play a Thursday night game,
Speaker 1: and the Packers were actually winning that game, if I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken, at the end of the third quarter, and
Speaker 1: then in the fourth quarter, you know, Seattle took over
Speaker 1: and ended up pulling that out in front of their
Speaker 1: home fans. I this travel, the travel type of thing
Speaker 1: on a short week, you would just think that more
Speaker 1: of those would be either a division game or something
Speaker 1: that's just you know, a sixty minute, ninety minute flights
Speaker 1: something like that, a four hour flight on a short week.
Speaker 1: The Packers are gonna come off that second game against
Speaker 1: Minnesota on November first, on a Sunday afternoon, and then
Speaker 1: on Wednesday afternoon they're taking a four hour flight to
Speaker 1: the West Coast to get ready to play the San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty Niners in an NFC Championship rematch. From the
Speaker 1: logistical part of it all, to me, that that's the
Speaker 1: one thing that I look at is like, wow, that
Speaker 1: is going to be something incredibly difficult for the Packers
Speaker 1: to overcome. Outside of later season Thanksgiving games, Packers have
Speaker 1: played a lot of meaningful ones in my time on
Speaker 1: the beat. But conversely, in my years of covering the
Speaker 1: NFL and covering the Green Bay Packers on a day
Speaker 1: to day basis, I don't think I've ever learned anything
Speaker 1: about them in a Thursday night game in this structure.
Speaker 1: And it's one of the reasons why I know you
Speaker 1: were a big pro wrestling fan when you were a kid,
Speaker 1: as was I. Uh here, here's the thing. You have
Speaker 1: your flagship shows, right if you're a pro wrestling company.
Speaker 1: Those are the ones that you get the ratings on.
Speaker 1: Those are the ones that everybody's eyeballs are glued on.
Speaker 1: But then you also have the smaller shows where it's
Speaker 1: maybe an hour and it's a lot of the you know,
Speaker 1: the lower card wrestlers on there. For whatever reason, the
Speaker 1: NFL a few years ago decided, you know what, We're
Speaker 1: gonna not only start taking these Thursday night games the
Speaker 1: lower you know show, We're gonna start putting prime time
Speaker 1: matchups in there. And I think that's robbing the league
Speaker 1: and it's robbing teams of seeing really good, high caliber football.
Speaker 1: I've taken issue with that, I go back to what
Speaker 1: you were saying. I think that these should be games
Speaker 1: where there isn't as much spotlight on the talent there
Speaker 1: there isn't you know, gonna be the Packers versus the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers, a rematch of the NFC championship for
Speaker 1: the Packers versus Seattle, their biggest rival out of the
Speaker 1: division over the last ten years. Let's get back to
Speaker 1: like getting you know, some matchups between the Packers and
Speaker 1: the Lions, or or you know some of these teams
Speaker 1: that Jacksonville j boars. I don't understand. It's Thursday night football.
Speaker 1: There's no other game in town other than trying to
Speaker 1: showcase superstars. I don't understand they need to have those
Speaker 1: teams always facing off against other. You have that on
Speaker 1: Sunday night football, you have that Monday Night football. I
Speaker 1: get there television contracts going to that, but I also
Speaker 1: think that's a real shame because the Packers very easily
Speaker 1: could win that game. You don't know how these Thursday
Speaker 1: night games go. A lot of weird stuff can happen,
Speaker 1: but I never really felt like after one of those games,
Speaker 1: I've learned really that much about either team because of
Speaker 1: just how strange the circumstances are in which they have
Speaker 1: to play that game. Yeah, and when you look at
Speaker 1: the way the schedule finishes up for the Packers, it's interesting,
Speaker 1: and of course you know who knows what's going to
Speaker 1: happen with the dates and how this actually falls. But
Speaker 1: if you look at Thanksgiving, once you get past Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: the Packers are playing four of their last six games
Speaker 1: at home at lambeau Field, and then one of the
Speaker 1: two road games is the finale at Chicago. So that
Speaker 1: sets up, if everything falls into place, that sets up
Speaker 1: as a lot of cold weather football for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers, down the down the stretch and hey Wes,
Speaker 1: for the first time, and however many years, the Packers
Speaker 1: are not playing the Lions in Week seventeen, the NFC
Speaker 1: North finale is against somebody else, and it's going to
Speaker 1: be at Soldier Field this time. With all due respect
Speaker 1: to the Lions. And there's been some memorable games over
Speaker 1: the last four years. I am so second tired of
Speaker 1: that regular season finale. We went for a while there, Mike,
Speaker 1: where it was like every year it was a different
Speaker 1: NFC North team that they were facing. Yeah, they were.
Speaker 1: They would rotate it and that they got into this
Speaker 1: stretch because not only, of course then has it been
Speaker 1: Packers Lions for you know, a handful of years in
Speaker 1: a row, but that means it's also been Vikings Bears
Speaker 1: for the last however many years in a row. So
Speaker 1: there it. You know, it eliminates the variety, you know,
Speaker 1: not just for a couple of teams, but for a
Speaker 1: couple of others as well. So it's just been strange.
Speaker 1: But yes, the Packers Week seventeen will not be against Detroit.
Speaker 1: It will be at Chicago against the Bears. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: before they got into this run of facing the Lions
Speaker 1: every year. It also those were really meaningful games. How
Speaker 1: many of those games might reflects from the Packers versity
Speaker 1: NFC North into prime time. When you think of two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen, the last time they played the Bears at
Speaker 1: Soldier Field, the pro is out the regular season, it's
Speaker 1: one of the most memorable games that I've ever covered,
Speaker 1: and how that one ended. Certainly the matchups that they
Speaker 1: had with my Minnesota Vikings as well, so at least
Speaker 1: to see some fresh blood thrown in there, a little
Speaker 1: bit different type of matchup, type of narrative. I'm all
Speaker 1: for it. It would be great to get some of
Speaker 1: these at lambeau Field. It seems like they're traveling quite
Speaker 1: a bit here to close up the regular season. But
Speaker 1: be that as it may, it is it's an interesting
Speaker 1: final stretch. A lot of cold weather games, a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, tough and dirty Black and Blue division
Speaker 1: type of matchups, so that that part of its Yeah,
Speaker 1: one other thing to throw at you, Just to backtrack
Speaker 1: a little bit, what do you think the player's opinion,
Speaker 1: Because they don't care about our opinion, but what do
Speaker 1: you think the player's opinion would be of the week
Speaker 1: five by It strikes me as the players would say, boy,
Speaker 1: that's early. We wish it were, you know, maybe about
Speaker 1: a month later or so. Too early? Uh yeah, And
Speaker 1: in week four is the earliest I think that it
Speaker 1: can go right, And that's only three teams or four teams,
Speaker 1: So to have it a week five, Packers did get
Speaker 1: kind of lucky for a few years. It was in
Speaker 1: that middle. Last year was very late part of the season.
Speaker 1: That's typically more towards where you wanted to be at.
Speaker 1: But I remember talking to t J. Lang and some
Speaker 1: other guys about this past and you know how they
Speaker 1: had mentioned when the schedule release came out, the only
Speaker 1: thing that they really cared about. The only thing they
Speaker 1: looked at was where that week, that bye week was
Speaker 1: for them and where they're beginning their rest. Um, you
Speaker 1: never know. I go back to two thousand thirteen, the
Speaker 1: Packers had a week four bye and they weren't beat
Speaker 1: up going into that that week four bye already. So
Speaker 1: you never can be too heure how this season is
Speaker 1: gonna lay out. But being in week five, that is
Speaker 1: a little bit early. The closer it is to that September,
Speaker 1: first week of October, that's typically not the way they
Speaker 1: want us to get line up. I'm sure one way
Speaker 1: the players will look at it is, you know, they
Speaker 1: play their first four games, you get a buy, then
Speaker 1: that second set of four ends on a Thursday night,
Speaker 1: so then you kind of get a weekend off, the
Speaker 1: little mini by like they like to talk about, and
Speaker 1: then you head into the back half the you know,
Speaker 1: games nine through sixteen without a break, and you know,
Speaker 1: heading through that stress through November and December, as we said,
Speaker 1: with a lot of cold weather on tap. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a weird thing too. And I didn't put this
Speaker 1: in the story that we're running on our website, and
Speaker 1: I don't think you mentioned it in your column, but
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers, like the whole thing on Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: against the Lions. That's just gone by the wayside. It's delied. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that the Packers will play the Lions in week two
Speaker 1: at Lambeau and then they play in Detroit, uh in
Speaker 1: in December, December thirteenth. I believe it is. So there
Speaker 1: was a time there where every other year was Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers traveling to Detroit for those Thanksgiving matchups. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: for me it being my favorite holiday, I've been able
Speaker 1: to keep my role at home here in the last
Speaker 1: five years. There you go, there, you go. Well, one
Speaker 1: other thing. Okay, So the Packers have the maximum as
Speaker 1: in the original schedule, the maximum five primetime games. How
Speaker 1: many primetime games do you think the Packers end up
Speaker 1: playing on this schedule? Do you think anything gets flexed
Speaker 1: or change? You think it ends up being six? Like,
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts? It'll end up being six? It
Speaker 1: always does. I've covered this long enough. I think I'm
Speaker 1: the line and insider inbox at four and a half,
Speaker 1: and realistically it ended up being north of that. For
Speaker 1: how many would be on the schedule. You and I
Speaker 1: could penciled this in the Packers. They're one of the
Speaker 1: most iconic franchises in the league. I know that people
Speaker 1: sometimes can think that's a cliche, but you can look
Speaker 1: at the ratings and Aaron Rodgers era, going back to
Speaker 1: the Brett Farve era, those two guys put butts and
Speaker 1: couches to watch these matchups. So for that reason, I
Speaker 1: think they'll have five and I think somewhere along the line,
Speaker 1: wherever it might be, that they'll throw in that sixth
Speaker 1: one because the back to the matter is that maybe
Speaker 1: one of them as one of the season games and
Speaker 1: it's struggling, but there were so many other things happening
Speaker 1: at that time that you understood it. If Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: as healthy, if the Packers are in contention, they're going
Speaker 1: to have the bright lights shining. Yeah, I absolutely agree
Speaker 1: with you. Well, with that, we will sign off on
Speaker 1: this edition of Packers Unscript and be sure to follow
Speaker 1: all of our coverage, all of the ins and outs
Speaker 1: of the schedule, videos, stories, everything is on the website
Speaker 1: Packers dot com. Have a good weekend everybody for West
Speaker 1: I am Mike. Take care. We will see you next
Speaker 1: time m HM.