Based on Week 1 rosters, Thursday night’s showdown between the Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins at Lambeau Field will be a battle between the NFL’s youngest team and the NFL’s oldest team.
Entering Week 1, the Packers had the NFL’s youngest team by average age at 25.1 years. The Dolphins, on the other hand, had the oldest at 27.3 years.
Overall, the Packers have just two players age 30 or older — kicker Brandon McManus and linebacker Eric Wilson — and only five age 29 or older (McManus, Wilson, Andre Dillard, Matt Orzech, Kenny Clark).
The Dolphins have 13 players age 30 or older and 23 players age 29 or older.
Calais Campbell is 38. Jordan Poyer is 33. Terron Armstead is 33. Kendall Lamm is 32. Emmanuel Ogbah is 31. Marcus Maye is 31. Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill are both 30. All are key players for the Dolphins.
It will be interesting to see how this dichotomy plays out this week.
On one hand, the Dolphins have a big advantage in terms of experience, which could help prep during a short week. Then again, the Packers are considerably younger, and young bodies recover faster. It’s also worth factoring in how older bodies will respond to the cold of playing an outdoor game in Wisconsin in late November.
Will the younger Packers have fresher legs on a short week? Will the older Dolphins be better prepared to play with less prep time?
And will the advantage of playing at home — and not having to travel — play any factor in the battle of young vs. old?
Last year, the Packers played two Thursday night games — both against the Detroit Lions. They lost by 14 to the Lions in Week 4 at home but turned around later in the year and took down the Lions by seven at Ford Field on Thanksgiving Day.
The Dolphins played a Thursday night game in Week 2 and got blown out by the Buffalo Bills after losing Tua Tagovailoa to a head injury. Last year, the Dolphins beat the Aaron Rodgers-less New York Jets during the Black Friday game.