Yesterday, the NFL released full 16-game regular season schedules for every NFL team, including the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay has a favorable opening stretch, starting their 2019 season with five of their first seven games at Lambeau Field. The Packers will enter the new season with first-time head coach Matt LaFleur, who will be revamping the offense and hopefully revitalizing a franchise that has suffered two straight postseason-free seasons after making it there in eight consecutive years.
Three Reasons The Green Bay Packers Must Start Fast In 2019
1. Build Confidence Early
The Packers are a team on the younger side. Many veterans of old have retired or moved on in recent years, including Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb. Aaron Rodgers will begin the season as the second-oldest player on the team at 35 years of age, trailing only the 36-year-old Tramon Williams. Matt LaFleur, in his first season as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, will be just 39, easily the youngest coach in the NFL.
Many of Green Bay’s best breakout candidates are second or third-year players, including receivers Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown, both of whom are primed for breakout seasons. Point is, this is a young, relatively inexperienced football team that will need to develop confidence early, before the heart of their schedule dawns. Getting off to a fast start with early wins, especially at home, will build confidence for the young group.
2. Five Of First Seven At Home
A big reason why the Packers must start fast in 2019 is simply that a large portion of their home slate is within the first seven games. In fact, the Packers play five of their eight home games in the first seven weeks of the season, and the Packers have historically played their best football at Lambeau Field.
Not to mention, four of the first five home games come against teams that did not make the postseason, including two division rivals in the Lions and Vikings. Simply put, the Packers will have to post a strong home record if they hope to make the postseason in 2019, and that starts by handling business early at home.
3. Tough Stretch From Weeks Eight Through Thirteen
The toughest, most daunting portion of the Packers schedule comes from weeks eight through thirteen, where the opponents go as follows:
- Week 8: At Chiefs
- Week 9: At Chargers
- Week 10: vs. Panthers
- Week 11: Bye
- Week 12: At 49ers
- Week 13: At Giants
That is a brutal stretch that could’ve been worse without the bye, but still daunting nonetheless. The Packers must go on the road to face two of the best quarterbacks in the game in Patrick Mahomes and Phillip Rivers before returning home to face a potential sleeper team in the Carolina Panthers. They get a break with the bye in Week 11, but then must travel to San Francisco to take on Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers, then fly across the entire continental United States to face the Giants on the road the following week.
Having a winning record during the portion of the schedule is entirely realistic, but securing early season victories will ensure that going 2-3 or worse during this stretch won’t be fatal to Green Bay’s season the way going 1-4 during a similar stretch last season cost Green Bay a chance at the playoffs.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is, starting fast for Matt LaFleur and the Packers not only will build confidence for a young group of talented yet inexperienced players, but it will also provide a cushion for any struggles they may have later in the season against tougher opponents in unfavorable environments away from home. If they can go 5-2 or better in their first seven games, they’ve got a very real chance at snapping their 2-year postseason-less skid.
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