The Green Bay Packers open the NFL season in prime time, Thursday,
Packers coach Mike McCarthy
Sept. 4 against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for our football team,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “We have experience playing in the kickoff opener three years ago, and we will draw on that.
“Obviously, being the visiting team this time presents new challenges. It will help sharpen our focus even more during training camp and the preseason.”
The Packers lost to the Seahawks in Week 3 of the 2012 season, 14-12 in the infamous “Fail Mary” game.
“This game won’t be about the past,” McCarthy said. “It will be about the 2014 Green Bay Packers.”
AUDIO: A.J. Hawk echoed the coaches thoughts, saying this isn’t about revenge :22
The Packers are scheduled to play in prime time five times this coming season. Besides Seattle, the Packers will also play National TV games against Minnesota, New Orleans, Chicago and Atlanta. The Packers are one of eight teams with five national television appearances.
Green Bay will have the 13th-most difficult schedule based on the winning percentage of their opponents last year (.504).
The Packers will have four of their first six games on the road. They’ll have back-to-back road games against the Lions and Bears in weeks 3 and 4 and return home to face the Vikings on a Thursday night in week 5.
The Packers had an early bye last season. This year it comes after 8 games (Nov. 2) which is ideal for the Packers. They’ll come out of the bye with home games against the Bears (Nov. 9) and Eagles (Nov. 16).
The most difficult stretch of travel comes in December when the Packers travel to Buffalo (Dec. 14) and Tampa Bay (Dec. 21)
The Packers will play their home opener on Sept. 14 against the New York Jets. They’ll also close out the regular season at home on Sunday, Dec. 28 against the Detroit Lions.
Click to check out the 2014 Schedule