Packers/Jags Leadup

[MickeyDavis]

Love this time of year. Can't wait for next weekend. Jags are on their way up but this is simply a game we can't lose. Very interested to see how much Jordy plays and how well he does. Lacy looked good in the preseason, will it carry over. Contract year Lacy excites me. How will the reformulated OL do? Will Clay back on the outside make a difference or will offenses shred our middle?

Pack favored by 4.5

[xTitan]

I think the offensive line just became significantly weaker.....there has to be a lot more to this story, you don't work Sitton all camp as the #1 guard then just cut him....lines take cohesiveness, doesn't seem like the staff knew of this.

[Mags FTW]

Week 1 is such a crapshoot. Never know what's going to happen.

[MickeyDavis]

Last year we start 6-0 and the wheels fall off

[bizarro]

I really don't think this game means near the amount people are proposing. Week 1 on the road against an up and coming AFC team. Means much much more to Jax.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I think the pack win the division and are good but i think they lose this game. Just a hunch and it will trigger a whole bunch of "are the jags good" and some "are the pack bad" overreaction.

[MickeyDavis]

Only 16 games, every game is meaningful.

[bizarro]

Only 16 games, every game is meaningful.

Surely. AND, nobody goes undefeated. Every game counts but conference and divisional games are far far more important. A game 1 at Jax means very little to nothing for me. Week 2? Different story.

Edit:

In other words, our week 1 opponent on the road is an up and coming AFC opponent. Great. Let's use this to test the depth of our roster and see how we adjust to a hyped team NOT in our conference. We have 5
Weeks upcoming against NFC opponents. Those mean far more in the quest for seeding than the AFC games.

[MickeyDavis]

Legit contenders don't lose to Jax, even on the road, even in week one, even if they are "up and coming". A loss here will bother the hell out of me. Non division/non conference or not.

[humanrefutation]

I'm probably less excited about this season than I have been about any Packers season in a long time.

In previous years, I'd be counting down to gameday. This season, I seem resigned to the fact that we'll go anywhere from 10-6—12-4 and end up dropping a tough game in second or third round of the playoffs. No championship. Another year of Rodgers' prime wasted. Rinse. Repeat.

Sorry to be a bummer, but I just don't feel that same sense of thrilled anticipation.

I think we'll win this game, but can very easily see us losing it. I'm most interested to see Rodgers and the passing game, which was awful for most of last season. I wonder if Aaron's otherworldly accuracy will return. I wonder if Jordy is ready to go. I'd like to see if Cobb et al will continue to drop a ton of balls.

That'll be very telling for me, IMO.

[bizarro]

Legit contenders don't lose to Jax, even on the road, even in week one, even if they are "up and coming". A loss here will bother the hell out of me. Non division/non conference or not.

MD, this is an antiquated and foolish comment. No offense, but, really. Our last super bowl season we lost at home to Miami. They have a below .500 record since 2010. We also lost at Tampa the year prior.

Winning on the road in the NFL is extremely difficult. Losing on the road to a team on the rise - a team extremely hungry and widely considered one of the better pools of young talent in the League - in a week 1 contest is hardly anything to fret about. I'm not saying I think the Packers will lose. I'm not saying the Packers should lose. Because I definitely believe the Packers shouldwin. BUT, I'm definitely saying this is a much better Jacksonville team. And, a loss is something I really don't care about. Hell, we've entered the post-season 15-1 w/ home field advantage. It's an entire season. What matters is the journey; the trajectory; and how we find our beloved team trending into late November and December. We are blessed as Packers fans. I would think we'd have the wherewithal to understand a loss week 1 to a rising AFC opponent doesn't really mean a thing.

[FAH1223]

Dom Capers defense does well vs. young, inexperienced QBs.

Look for some INTs this week and sacks.

Packers will win.

[emunney]

Going to be funny though if Myles Jack has a huge game and Kenny Clark can't play due to injury.

[MickeyDavis]

I realize that losing to "bad" teams happens virtually every year. I also realize that one win can make a difference between a bye/no bye and/or home/away in the playoffs. So I want this win. But I also kind of agree with Human, the Super Bowl season was an outlier, McCarthy/Rodgers teams always find a way to lose in the playoffs that's painful.

[FAH1223]

Josh Sitton signs with Da Bears.

3 years, $21M. $10M guaranteed.

VERY reasonable deal.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I realize that losing to "bad" teams happens virtually every year. I also realize that one win can make a difference between a bye/no bye and/or home/away in the playoffs. So I want this win. But I also kind of agree with Human, the Super Bowl season was an outlier, McCarthy/Rodgers teams always find a way to lose in the playoffs that's painful.

To play devil's advocate no team has won two super bowls since rodgers has been a starting qb. The pats are looked at as the best modern dynasty and they went ten years between super bowl wins in the middle of bradys prime. Peyton manning went over a decade between super bowl wins.

Im not saying expectations shouldnt be high or that tt and Mccarthy are beyond criticism but winning a super bowl is really hard and most of the time it is an outlier that takes some luck.

[bigkurty]

Have any of you guys seen the "Adam Ruins Everything" football episode? I'd recommend it. He basically highlights how the playoff system is so random due to the extremely small sample size of one game deciding who moves on and that the better teams lose quite often to worse teams i.e. 15-1 Packers losing to the Giants.

Hell look at the Badger game. We basically dominated that game outside of 67 seconds but those 67 seconds almost won LSU the game.

[Iheartfootball]

I'm probably less excited about this season than I have been about any Packers season in a long time.

In previous years, I'd be counting down to gameday. This season, I seem resigned to the fact that we'll go anywhere from 10-6—12-4 and end up dropping a tough game in second or third round of the playoffs. No championship. Another year of Rodgers' prime wasted. Rinse. Repeat.

Sorry to be a bummer, but I just don't feel that same sense of thrilled anticipation.

I feel the same way. Every year I expect playoffs and contend for a Super Bowl. But this year I just don't see it happening. Winning is fun if you haven't won in a while. This team wins but not the biggest game. Not sure why the same cast of characters minus Sitton is going to be better this year. I get it, another year of experience but I just don't see it.

[WiscoKing13]

Lane Taylor to start vs Jags

http://www.packers.com/news-and-events/article-daily-news-story/article-1/Lane-Taylor-to-start-at-left-guard-for-Packers-in-Jacksonville/f702e7b3-ca4a-44d6-9f5e-e11532522576

[emunney]

I actually am super excited about this season. I think the offense is going to be extremely difficult to deal with as we have the personnel to challenge defenses all over the field. And with a deep secondary of guys who can run and cover, plus hit like linebackers, the team just conceptually makes a lot of sense to me.

Health is the ultimate caveat but I think we're in great shape.