Packers Going from Not-Quite-Frozen Tundra to Tampa Tropics
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The temperature when the Green Bay Packers headed onto Ray Nitschke Field for the start of Thursday’s practice was 45 degrees. When the Packers walk onto the field at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., on Sunday for their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the forecast is for a high of 88 degrees.
And that doubled temperature doesn’t even tell the full picture. Combined with a biting west-northwest wind, the “feels like” temperature in Green Bay was 36. Combined with 68 percent humidity for Sunday, the projected heat index for the game will be 99.
“You can’t really make up the heat that you’ll feel in Tampa,” said receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, a native of St. Petersburg, Fla., who played his college football at South Florida in the Bucs’ home stadium. “I lived there my whole life so I’m used to it but, for a lot of the guys (who) aren’t used to it, it’s going to be a change. You’ve got to stay hydrated. That way, you won’t have any cramps. That’s going to be the biggest issue because we don’t really have that issue up here with the humidity and whatnot, especially around this time of year.”
One player to watch will be star receiver Davante Adams. By the time the Packers arrive in Tampa, it will be almost a full month since he’s played in a game due to the hamstring injury sustained in Week 2 against Detroit. Receivers coach Jason Vrable will be keeping an eye on Adams to make sure he doesn’t overdo it in his return to the lineup.
“Obviously, it all depends on the flow of the game,” Vrable said. “Sometimes, you score on a three-play drive. You have a big play and you score. Other times, you're out there for 12, 15 plays. We’ve usually had about five receivers active every game. Whoever’s out there, I always tell them, ‘Hey, if Tae looks over and needs one’ or if he just had a long route, then I just slide them in there and we wave them off and it’s as simple as that.
“I think that kind of goes for everybody. Unfortunately, we've had two injuries to guys who've played a lot for us. I think that’s kind of been going around the league. You’ve just got to be careful.”
Coach Matt LaFleur is doing what he can to get his team prepared. For the portions of practice held inside the Don Hutson Center earlier this week, LaFleur cranked up the heat. Beyond acclimating his players as much as possible, the message is simple: hydrate, hydrate and hydrate some more.
It’s the football version of preventative maintenance.
“You can try different things and, sometimes, it can feel a little gimmicky, but I think there is some science behind some of the stuff that we’re doing,” LaFleur said before Thursday’s practice. “You’ve just got to make sure that you stress the hydration. That’s the biggest key, especially when it’s colder here. Guys just don’t feel like drinking water all the time or taking in the fluids. So, we’ve been stressing it and just making sure that our guys are adhering to that because we need everybody for what we know is going to be a long, four-quarter battle.”
Surviving that four-quarter battle will be especially important for the defense so there’s gas left in the tank to stand up to a potential Tom Brady comeback.
“We know it’s going to be hot, it’s going to be a different temperature, it’s going to be a real spike in the temperature from what we’re accustomed to at this moment in the season,” said linebacker Preston Smith, a native of Atlanta. “We know that’s the challenge we face. Going on the road, you’ve got to go play in a hostile environment, whether it be temperature or fans. We know what we’re facing. We know what we have to do to get ready for the game. We’ve just got to go out there and play our game and not focus on the stuff that we can’t control, like the temperature.”
