11 Quick observations about Packers 2023 schedule

The NFL is going to announce the official NFL schedules for each team on Thursday evening, but naturally, many of those games have already been leaked, including the entire Green Bay Packers schedule by Matt Schneidman of The Athletic.

Beyond just who the Packers are playing and when, there are always additional takeaways, some of which include the number of primetime games, notable road trips, and home stands, along with when the bye week is, among other items.

Below I go through my 11 noteworthy observations from the Packers 2023 schedule release.

– Jordan Love will begin his career as a starter with two road games, at Chicago and Atlanta, before returning home for his debut at Lambeau Field.

– Out of a possible six games that will be played in the months of December and January, three will be at Lambeau Field and three on the road, including two of the final three. Usually, the more home cold weather games the better for the Packers, although that hasn’t necessarily been the case in recent years.

– It’s an early Week 6 bye for the Packers, who will then have to play 12 consecutive games to finish out the season. Last year, as I’m sure you recall, was the opposite, with the bye coming in Week 14. The Thanksgiving game provides them with a mini-bye in Week 12.

– The longest road game streak for the Packers is only two games and takes place on two occasions, during Weeks 1 and 2, along with Weeks 16 and 17. In 2022, the Packers had a stretch where they played in five different stadiums over a five-week span.

– On the flip side, their longest homestand is two games as well.

– Although the Packers’ longest road trip is only two games, Daire Carragher of Packer Report would note that Green Bay will have played just two home games during the first seven weeks of the season, with their bye week mixed in.

– The Packers will have five primetime games and a sixth on national television when they play at Detroit on Thanksgiving. They’ll also have eight noon games and only one in the 3:25 time slot.

– Both of their matchups with Detroit will take place on Thursday night, and the good news is that in each instance, the Packers are at home the Sunday prior, cutting down on how much travel they have in such a short time frame.

– Only five of the Packers’ opponents in 2023 made the playoffs last season—Minnesota, Kansas City, LA Chargers, New York Giants, and the now Tom Brady-less Buccaneers. Their first matchup with a playoff opponent from 2022 won’t come until Week 8 when the Vikings travel to Green Bay.

– In terms of miles traveled this upcoming season, the Packers will total the second-fewest amount out of any NFL team, according to Adam Schefter.

– The most difficult stretch on paper for the Packers comes from Weeks 11 through 14, when they are home for the Chargers, at Detroit, home for the Chiefs in primetime then on the road to face the Giants in primetime.

– Without knowing what the schedules of the Packers’ opponents are yet, something to watch for moving forward is if any of those teams will have additional rest coming off their bye weeks before facing Green Bay. This happened a few times in 2022. Based solely on the Packers’ schedule, they only have one game, where they will be playing with less rest than their opponent, and that comes from Week 14, when they are the Monday Night game, to Week 15.