Packer Central

Packers Remain Historically Young For Wild-Card Game Against Eagles

Last year, the Green Bay Packers made history as the youngest team to win a playoff game since 1970. What can this year’s team do for an encore?

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) throws while pressured by Cooper DeJean of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) throws while pressured by Cooper DeJean of the Philadelphia Eagles. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Last year, the youth-filled Green Bay Packers made playoff history.

What can the still-young Packers do for an encore?

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this year’s Packers are the second-youngest team (25.72) by weighted age to make the playoffs over the last 45 seasons. The youngest? Last year’s Packers (25.58).

That team, which was the fourth-youngest to make the playoffs since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, became the youngest during that span to win a playoff game.

According to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, who also crunched the numbers, the Packers finished the season as the youngest team in the NFL.

By far.

Going by final snap-weighted age data, Green Bay’s average player was 25.8. The New York Giants were a distant second at 26.4.

Here is the playoff field from Barnwell, and their overall NFL ranking from oldest to youngest:

Minnesota Vikings: 28.3 (1st).

Washington Commanders: 27.6 (7th).

Buffalo Bills: 27.3 (10th).

Pittsburgh Steelers: 27.2 (11th).

Detroit Lions: 27.0 (14th).

Baltimore Ravens: 27.0 (15th).

Los Angeles Rams: 27.0 (17th).

Kansas City Chiefs: 27.0 (19th).

Denver Broncos: 26.9 (21st).

Houston Texans: 26.9 (22nd).

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 26.7 (24th).

Philadelphia Eagles: 26.7 (25th).

Los Angeles Chargers: 26.6 (28th).

Green Bay Packers: 25.8 (32nd).

It’s a young-man’s game, as general manager Brian Gutekunst likes to say, and that’s evident in those numbers.

“When we are hitting on all cylinders, there’s not a lot of teams, I feel like, that can mess with us in general,” running back Josh Jacobs said after Sunday’s loss to the Bears. “It’s just more so about doing it on a consistent basis and having the attentiveness to want to do the little things right every play.

“I think that’s the biggest thing that we have to learn as a young team is that it’s going to take every play. Whatever you’re doing, you’re going to have to strain, you’re going to have to be physical or whatever, it’s going to take everybody. And I think that’s the thing that we’ve got to learn as a unit. Once we learn that, I think the sky’s the limit.”

Broken down, Green Bay has the youngest offense (25.6) and the third-youngest defense (25.8).

“We’re a pretty young defense right now when all those guys are on the field,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “There’s times we’ve got three or four rookies out there, and you combine that with some of the other guys, I don’t want to get ahead to what’s ahead, but that’s a good group of young players.”

Both quarterbacks were drafted in 2020.

Green Bay’s Jordan Love, a first-round pick, is 26. He will be making his third career start. His playoff debut last year at Dallas was historic, with his 157.2 passer rating being the highest of all-time for a quarterback on the road and matching Houston’s C.J. Stroud for the highest ever in a first playoff start.

Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts, a second-round pick, is 26. He will be making his sixth playoff start. His record as a starter is 2-3, with five touchdowns, two interceptions and an 88.1 passer rating. In the Super Bowl against Kansas City two years ago, he threw for 304 yards with one touchdown, zero interceptions and a 103.4 rating.

Jacobs, who will turn 27 just a few days after this year’s Super Bowl, will be playing in just the second playoff game of his career.

“Obviously, this is something I’ve always wanted to do, but I’m not just satisfied with going to the playoffs,” he said. “I came here to win the Super Bowl. So, for me, that’s the only thing that’s really on my mind. I’m about to give everything that I’ve got to this and see how it could play out.”

Last year, Green Bay entered the postseason with a combined 74 games of playoff experience. That was its least-experienced playoff team since the 1993 squad had 67 games.

As you’d expect, this team has more experience with a total of 111 games and 48 starts. Kenny Clark leads the way with 10 games and seven starts. Rashan Gary (seven games) and Elgton Jenkins (six starts) are next on the list.

Overall, this will be quarterbacks coach Tom Clements’ 25th playoff game.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.