Packers players held walk-through on the airport tarmac during their five-hour flight delay

GLENDALE, Ariz. – When it came to their scattered performance in a 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 19, the Green Bay Packers weren't blaming the friendly skies for their problems.

Not even after the players and a good portion of the coaching staff were stuck for five hours on the tarmac at the Green Bay airport Oct. 18 before a replacement plane could be found to take them on their four-hour trip to Arizona.

The players didn’t arrive in the Phoenix area until 9 p.m. Mountain time, just 16 hours before they were scheduled to play the Cardinals at State Farm Stadium.

“I’ve never been through anything like that,” safety Evan Williams said. “It was like we thought it was going to be quick at the start that it (the replacement charter plane) was going to be here, like an hour, a couple of hours.

“Next thing you know, we’ve got cones marked outside for us to walk around. We can walk around outside a little, but I mean we couldn’t leave. The offense did a little walk-through. But a lot of our defensive coaches weren’t there. It was only (defensive coordinator Jeff) Hafley.”

Holding a walk-through on the tarmac at Austin Straubel Airport is not how the Packers usually prepare for a road game. They usually leave around 1 p.m., arrive in the home team’s city and check into their hotel.

As the hours ticked by, there wasn’t much the players could do. They could sit in the plane and watch movies or watch game video on their tablets or catch a snooze. But no football player sits around for six hours in the same seat without feeling the urge to get up and go do something.

Because they had gone through TSA, the players were not allowed back in the airport. So, some spent time walking around inside those cones that were laid out for them and others play cards on the plane.

“That (expletive) was terrible,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “I’m not going to lie. I’ve never experienced anything like that, to the point where we’re standing on the runway for six hours. We had to get out and walk around a little bit and go back in, and still try to lock in.

“The crazy thing is my family is here and all those types of things, and all the plans you had you have to postpone. Also, the body clock. We’re getting in so late and it’s already 10 o’clock and it feels like 12. I’m proud of this team persevering through it all.”

Said safety Xavier McKinney: “That (expletive) was crazy. That’s never happened in my career. I don’t really know what happened, but hopefully it don’t happen again. That messes with our schedule, obviously. We have a long plane ride here and then we were sitting on the tarmac for five-something hours. It wasn’t the best situation, but we made the best of it.”

When players arrive in the host city, they usually have time to grab a meal and socialize with family or friends. There are meetings for some players later in the evening and usually a bedtime snack before lights out.

But there are also different modes of preparation for the game and most of that was thrown to the side.  

“Some guys had meetings,” safety Javon Bullard said. “The other half was just like, ‘this (expletive) is over, we’re tired, dog.’

“I mean, you have to think, some guys have got routine, some guys get IVs, some guys get ozone (treatments), things like that. I wouldn’t say I was sluggish. But it just messed up a lot of guys’ routine. You’ve got guys who have to do the same thing every single time.

“I’m not superstitious, but it’s like, hell, ‘I didn’t do this, I didn’t do that.’ It makes you feel like you’re missing something.”

In the end, nobody was laying blame on the delay for a game the Packers nearly lost.

“We kind of, like, made it a joke, kind of just like more adversity,” Williams said. “It was like, ‘Let's see what we can do with this, find a way, regardless of what happens. Circumstances are  circumstances. So, let's find a way and just, just get it done.”

Staff writer Dominique Yates contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Packers News: Packers held walk-through on airport tarmac during 5-hour flight delay