This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

A View From the Stands: Another Packer Season Brings Changes

All is right in the football world with the Lombardi trophy at home where it belongs. However, Thursday night marks a new beginning for the Packers that brings changes both on and off the field.

All is right in the football world with the Lombardi trophy at home where it belongs. However, Thursday night marks a new beginning for the Packers that brings changes both on and off the field.

On the field:

With the majority of players back from last year's injured reserve and being the defending Super Bowl Champs, expectations are high. It is important to realize this is a new team and it remains to be seen if the Pack can make up for the loss of two pivotal players, Cullin Jenkins, and Brandon Jackson.

Mike Neal might be able to adequately fill in for Jenkins, but seems to be injury prone. That leaves C.J. Wilson and Jarius Wynn to take up the slack. Neither has yet to show they can provide the same quality of play as Jenkins.  This will cause the defense to rely more on their linebackers. Standout rookie Vic So'oto might help in this area and be a great bookend to Clay Matthews. Unfortunately he injured his back lifting weights and won't play in the Sept. 8 game.

The loss of running back Brandon Jackson doesn't affect the running game much, but might have a significant impact on the passing game. The only player that came close to being able to read and pickup blitzes like he did was Dimitri Nance, and he didn't make the cut. It's possible rookie Alex Green might be able to, but his inexperience could cost us a few sacks and/or pressure interceptions.

Off of the field:

If you haven't already heard, the Packers have broken ground on a $130M expansion of Lambeau Field. The expansion adds 6,600 new seats and upgrades to the video boards.

For those of you that are lucky enough to be heading to Green Bay for a game, you might like to know that one of the favorite spots to park, especially for RV's, is no longer available. The Packers own the Kmart parking lot and most of the land West to the west up to Marlee Lane. The east Kmart lot across from the Road Star Inn is now reserved for temporary Packer employees. They are now parking RV's on the West end of the former Big Lots building instead. Next year that building is scheduled to be demolished and the entire area developed as a part of the stadium district.

Find out what's happening in Hudsonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Thursday night's Packer game kicks off the NFL season with a huge party and free concert. Tune in early and enjoy. Hopefully one thing will not change, and thats winning. We can start off the season right by defeating a very good team, the New Orleans Saints.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?