Packers
15 May 2025

Anything beats four straight night games

Mike Spofford

Karen from South Beloit, IL

So which one of you is Bert, and which is Ernie?

I'll let Wes decide. But I still don't want to get too far away from Statler and Waldorf. I just thought I should mention another duo. Yes, it's me two days in a row. Nothing crazy going on. Just a mid-week adjustment. Carry on.

Brian from Charlottesville, VA

Beaker and Honeydew?

That would be Dr. Bunson Honeydew, to you.

James from Appleton, WI

And just like that, a mere seven years later, the Packers get another season opener at home. I wonder how much blue will be seen at Lambeau Field, though. There's always some nit to pick.

Hopefully the Lions game being the opener will mean fewer tickets available to visiting fans, but I guess we'll see. It's interesting that not only have the Packers waited forever to open at home, but now that they get to, they're playing two home games in five days out of the gate. Go figure.

Dave from Hollywood, MD

Detroit Lions in Week 1 at Lambeau. With two new coordinators, better to see them in Week 1, or later when the team and coordinators get settled in?

Hard to say. It cuts both ways. They won't be settled in, as you suggest, but there will be no meaningful film on the new coordinators in Week 1 either.

Eric from Kenosha, WI

I might be late to the party since I got to II late today, but in case no one else mentioned it, the Athletic did a story this week on Howard Katz, longtime NFL scheduler, retiring. It mentioned that no three-game road trips is a rule they feed into the computers that spit out schedules. That's one clue to answer our question about that.

That must be a new stipulation because the Packers had three straight road games as recently as 2022. Also in 2016 and 2012. This year, they may not be playing three straight on the road, but they are traveling four out of five after those first two home games, with the early bye week mixed in.

Randy from Klamath Falls, OR

Well, most people got their wish, a home opener. But after the two quick home games the next nine out of 15 are on the road. I hope the warriors are ready.

I cautioned against that type of possibility last week in the push for a home opener, though I didn't consider getting two straight at home to start with the ninth road game this year. But after the four of five on the road through the end of October, the home-road split is 5-5 from the start of November through the finale.

Joe from Swansea, IL

Don't know what worries me most, the Sunday-Thursday games against playoff teams to start, the not-necessarily-helpful early bye, or the Sunday-Thursday games against division foes in November. Yikes!

Those two Sunday-Thursday gauntletsjumped out to me more than anything else.

Jeremiah from Middleton, WI

Immediate thought on the schedule: Did the NFL punish the Packers for daring to ask for a home opener by schedule five of the division games in the last seven weeks of the season?

That stretch run is as NFC North-loaded as I can recall. The last time with five division games in seven weeks to finish was 2012, which was also the last time the Packers opened with a Sunday-Thursday "doubleheader" at home. With the exception of the bye week placement, it's very much a replication of the '12 schedule.

Jeff from Indian Lake, NY

Most underrated part of the schedule?Weeks 11-14, four straight 1 p.m. (ET) kickoffs. Spoff and Hod rejoice.

We'll see if those kickoff times hold. Thanksgiving is locked in, but those other three are all subject to flex. Anything beats four straight night games like last year, though. Another run like that will send me into retirement.

Jonathan from Richmond Hill, GA

First takeaway of the schedule: Finally opening at Lambeau. Second: Week 5 bye is trash, especially with the gauntlet that is the back half of the schedule starting with the Eagles (AND five division games in seven weeks!). What are you thinking?

I think the NFC North won't be decided until very late, as it should be. The Bears finish with three of five division games, while the Vikings and Lions both have division games the last two weeks.

Jeff from Watertown, WI

First glance at the schedule and I love that we open at home but other than that the schedule looks brutal. Am I wrong?

There's no way it wasn't going to look brutal with nine games against '24 playoff teams.

Dean from Belmont, MI

The 2025 schedule releasewas very entertaining, but where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns. Well, maybe next year.

We can't do clowns every year, though Wes's face paint came close. I enjoyed my hidden role in the Filming.

Tom from Highland Village, TX

Hello. Jennifer from Middleton brings up the Vikings playing in Dublin and then London. My opinion is it is to their advantage. The air distance is similar to Green Bay to Detroit. They will be fully acclimated to the time zone. In my lifetime, teams used to stay on the West or East Coast if it was a long distance and they had back-to-back games. Back in Curly's day they would stay on the West Coast to play several games. Plus, they get to avoid two hostile crowds. Your take?

I agree it's an advantage for the second game in London, and for avoiding potentially tough road crowds, especially in Pittsburgh. Taking the bye after that extended time away, even though it's early in Week 6, will help the Vikings reset, too.

Tom from Manitowoc, WI

In response to the query about an incentive for a team to tank to get higher draft picks, instead of a lottery, I think a better solution would be something like this: A team's draft-picking order is based on the week that their team got mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. So, if two teams got eliminated in Week 14, then they would get picks 1 and 2, with the tiebreaker being their record as of Week 14. If three teams got eliminated Week 15, then they would get picks 3, 4, and 5, etc.

I don't think tanking is a serious consideration with so much at stake for every coach and player in this league. That said, I'm intrigued by this idea, and I'll have to give it more thought, which is hard to do amidst all the schedule release madness.

Jace from Eagle, ID

Sean Rhyan also missed six games due to a PED suspension. Two snaps is brutal but it was also self-inflicted.

Fair enough, but he only appeared in one game as a rookie, and got one snap on special teams. He was a healthy inactive for five games, and he dressed for five others without getting into the game. So it's hard to say if he'd have gotten those snaps that year anyway.

Robert from Verona, WI

How long does it generally take you to form an opinion as to whether or not a player truly belongs in the NFL?

Not that my opinion even matters, but there's no set timeline. It depends on the opportunity provided and what the player does with it, which can be an evolving process over multiple years. I've learned never to rush to judgment. Most recent best example: Anyone here every day in the summer of 2022 would've never believed Rasheed Walker would become a two-year starting left tackle on this team the way his rookie training camp went.

Shawn from Kissimmee, FL

Who are the top three projections of who will return kicks and/or punts?Mecole Hardman, if he makes the team. DoesMatthew Goldenhave any chance or history on special teams returning kicks? His size and speed seem dangerous.Keisean Nixonmentioned his disinterest in it. Who else could assume the duties?

Nixon will still be in the mix, according to Bisaccia, along with Golden and Williams, plus maybeJayden ReedandBo Melton. Those would be my best guesses.

John from Stevens Point, WI

Must be great thing for an NFL coordinator when he gets new pieces to the puzzle, draftees and free agents, to further their vision for the offense of defense. I think you could hear it in their voices, or am I reading into it?

There's an excitement to getting new players to work with, but there's also excitement just to be working with players again every day after doing nothing but grinding film for three months.

Jerry from Boynton Beach, FL

Regarding on-field communications, please note that Texas high schools have been approved to use the technology. It's just a matter of time.

It's a very different discussion to me at the youth levels.

Alex from Bethany, CT

Grant from Green Bay's question (and Mike's response) got me thinking about the period of time Mike Sherman was both coach and GM after Ron Wolf retired. Perhaps this is a Chris Christl question but did Wolf make that decision/recommendation because of losing Mike Holmgren to Seattle? I recall Holmgren wanting both roles but it wasn't going to happen in Green Bay. Inquiring minds want to know.

Wolf recommended to Harlan that he give Sherman the dual role, but I don't think it had anything to do with losing Holmgren. At that point, Sherman had been a head coach for only one season and posted a 9-7 record.

Curt from Locust Grove, GA

Are there any additional challenges that a Canadian player has or is the game the same?

The Canadian game features 12 players instead of 11, three downs instead of four, and multiple players in motion, as well as a longer/wider field and the goalposts in a different spot.

Patrick from Ashland, WI

Hi guys! I've been 50-50 on Pete Rose my whole life. As a teen in the '80s he was a hero to me. Mike, I know you've expressed your gambling thoughts before but it's been really a hard thought process for me all the way with Rose. I wonder if you guys would weigh in on the topic, especially with all the other guys now "exonerated" from the 1919 Sox.

I don't get the Black Sox reversal more than 100 years later. I know historians have tried to get to the bottom of just how involved certain stars were, but what's the point of the change now? As for Rose, I'd feel very differently about him and the whole saga if he hadn't chosen to lie about it for 25 years (or whatever it was) before coming clean. The cover-up revealed more about the character of the perpetrator than the crime.

Steve from Ankeny, IA

Thanks to Mike for forcing me to waste 15 minutes of my life looking up Timmy's chip-dip rant and then re-watching it five times.

I'm here to serve. Happy Thursday

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