Breaking down your favorite team’s schedule as soon as it is officially released is a time-honored tradition that always includes plenty of hypotheticals. At the top of that list for the Green Bay Packers was: Will Micah Parsons miss time at the beginning of the season, and, if so, who would be on the slate early?
The Packers may have caught a break, at least regarding the second part of that question.
As for the first part, Adam Schefter said earlier on Thursday’s Get Up on ESPN that Parsons is expected to miss time.
The feeling within the organization has been that Parsons would miss the early part of the season and be back early on. He’ll be a candidate to be placed on the physically unable to perform list. You heard, three to four games potentially missed but again, we are still four, five months away from the time the season starts. … It certainly feels like, the tone has been, the expectation has been, that Parsons will miss some time to start the season.
That should not come as a shock. General manager Brian Gutekunst said as far back as March at the owner’s meetings that the Packers would be very careful with Parsons’ timeline as he rehabs the torn ACL.
Everything’s good. We had our trainers down there with him not too long ago and came back with really good. It’s daily communication… Obviously, we invested quite a bit in him, so we will be very protective of that investment as we go forward.
So, factoring all of this in, how does the early portion of the schedule take shape?
The Packers will start with three of their first four games on the road. For the third time since 2020, Green Bay will have a Week 1 affair on the road against the Minnesota Vikings. After that, the Packers will hit the road to face the New York Jets before turning around on a quick week to host the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football in the home opener. The Packers head back on the road in Week 4 to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Now, just for purposes of this case study, let’s say Parsons were to miss four games. Whether he ends up on the PUP list or not, let’s go with four games.
The first thing that jumps out is that Parsons would only miss one divisional game. Remember last year, when the Packers had a five-week stretch that included four games against NFC North rivals late in the season? The inverse of that, with a front-loaded calendar filled with division rivals, would’ve been problematic.
Instead, the Packers start with the Vikings and don’t face another NFC North team until the Bears come to town in Week 5. From that perspective, with the Parsons injury, Green Bay appears to have dodged a bullet. How fitting would it be to see Parsons return from the injury against Chicago at Lambeau Field?
Speaking of dodging bullets: If Parsons isn’t back by Week 2, he won’t have to play on the cement slab that is MetLife Stadium. Last year in the same stadium against the New York Giants, Packers running back Josh Jacobs dinged up his knee on the turf. He never quite turned the corner in the stretch run of the season to the point where he looked like his usual self. A disaster scenario for the Packers would’ve been one of Parsons’ first games back, or the first one, at MetLife Stadium, one of the most notoriously hazardous playing surfaces in the NFL.
Finally, let’s consider the opponents.
No NFL game should ever be considered a cake walk. That said, facing the Jets in Week 2 followed by hosting the Falcons on Thursday Night Football in Week 3 isn’t exactly murderer’s row.
Let’s say the Packers take those two and split the road contests in Minnesota and at Tampa Bay. Starting 3-1 and then getting Parsons back would be a great scenario for Green Bay. Of course, the Vikings and Buccaneers are formidable, so a win in either affair is far from a guarantee. Even if the Packers go 2-2 and then get Parsons back, it would be thoroughly manageable.
Tougher opponents, at least theoretically, like the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, and Bears, plus road trips to take on the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, don’t come early enough on the schedule that Parsons will likely be on the shelf.
Whether it’s who Green Bay is playing, where they are playing, or the fact that there is only one divisional game in the first four weeks, the schedule couldn’t have lined up much better for the Packers when considering the Parsons absence.
