The Oakland Raiders defeated the Green Bay Packers 22-21 last Thursday night, but the victory wasn’t what had people talking. What went wrong in the Packers Raiders game in Canada?
Both teams came to Winnipeg in the NFL’s attempt to bring American football back to Canada. This was the first game played there since December 2013 in Toronto. The venue was IG Field, home of their CFL team the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Fans were anticipating excitement for the second-to-last preseason game of the Packers and Raiders. What they didn’t expect to see were the last-minute field changes. Everything had to be customized for the game to happen. It slightly satisfied the teams but didn’t satisfy the fans. The next day had backlash and disappointment from sources and the public. So, what factors contributed to this fiasco? Let’s see.
A Shortened Football Field
A football field in the CFL has a measurement of 110 yards from goal line to goal line. Unfortunately, the NFL officials decided to shorten the field to 80 yards due to player safety concerns. The CFL goalposts were removed, and its holes were covered up. All staff and players of each team wanted to make sure no injuries occurred because of it. End zone markers were placed on the 10-yard line of each side too. It made going out of bounds at the end zone look easier. Hail Marys became an impossibility. The whole thing would confuse people overall, fading the excitement away.
No Kickoffs
Another hard part of this game was eliminating kickoffs. What’s the point of getting excited for the start of a game if there isn’t a kickoff to get the crowd excited or get a game started or keep it going? It was surprising that punts were allowed in this game but this wasn’t. Some last-minute rule this was.
The Raiders’ Home Issues
According to ESPN, the Raiders decided to have one of their two home preseason games in Winnipeg to save them half a million dollars in rent at Oakland Coliseum. They were struggling to find a home stadium for this season, and, eventually, agreed to spend possibly one more season at the coliseum. However, according to Business Insider, the lease wasn’t in place during the preseason scheduling. The Raiders still plan to move to Vegas next year.
Lack of Key Starters
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur originally wanted to start quarterback Aaron Rodgers and running back Aaron Jones. He changed his mind and decided to sideline them and 31 other players after the changes were made. Rodgers hasn’t even played a preseason game yet. Meanwhile, Oakland left out all main starters, including QB Derek Carr and WR Antonio Brown.
The Aftermath and The Lessons Learned
Manitoba premier Brian Pallister expressed his disappointment on the NFL’s attempt at bringing American-style football to the Great White North. He told the media that the game “didn’t work out the way they wanted.” He also told the Associated Press, “Organizers tried to do something that hadn’t been done before, so let’s give them respect and credit for trying.”
So, maybe you can commend the organizers for trying their best, but it doesn’t change the fact that the whole thing was a mess. The teams’ concerns may have been the biggest reason why the changes had to happen, but you can’t blame them for wanting to keep players safe. Practically, no one asked for these things to happen. No one, not even the fans or players, were ready for this. If the Raiders do indeed move out of Oakland next year, this problem won’t happen again. Also, the next time the NFL goes to Canada, they should pick a city that will be more prepared.
