GREEN BAY—It will be just a preseason game, but the “rematch” of the “Fail Mary” game against Seattle will be nationally televised at 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Aug. 23, at Lambeau Field.
The NFL released the league’s preseason schedule on Thursday, and it’s no surprise CBS chose to put Seattle vs. Green Bay in the prime-time national TV spotlight. Coincidentally, the game occurs in Week 3 of the preseason. Last year’s “Fail Mary” game in Seattle was in Week 3 of the regular season and wound up being the final game officiated by replacements.
The game will put the Packers on national TV in the preseason for a fourth straight year, and for the seventh time in Mike McCarthy’s eight years as head coach.
The Packers’ other three preseason opponents have been selected but the specific dates have not been determined. All the other games will be televised on a statewide network. Along with the green/gold package distinctions, the details will be finalized at a later date.
Green Bay will host Arizona in Week 1 (Aug. 8-12) and travel to St. Louis in Week 2 (Aug. 15-19). After hosting Seattle on Aug. 23, the Packers will wrap up the preseason with a trip to Kansas City in Week 4 (Aug. 29-30).
In a departure from the norm, three of the Packers’ four preseason opponents are from the NFC.
The Packers usually play only one preseason game against an NFC team, and last year played none. The last time two NFC opponents were on the preseason schedule was 2004, and to find the last time there were three, you have to go all the way back to 1985.
None of the Packers’ preseason opponents is on the 2013 regular-season schedule, which is expected to be released later this month.
This will mark the fourth straight season the Packers will finish the preseason against the Chiefs, whose new general manager is Green Bay’s former director of football operations, John Dorsey. Arizona was on the preseason slate as recently as 2011, while Seattle was a preseason opponent in 2010.
The preseason meeting with the Rams in St. Louis will be a first. The Rams were from Los Angeles the last time the Packers played them in the preseason, in Madison, Wis., in 1994.
The Rams are coached by Jeff Fisher, who previously coached the Tennessee Titans when the Packers played the Titans eight consecutive years in the preseason (2002-09).
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