The Buffalo Bills are 2-0 at home this season and the Green Bay Packers are 1-1, losing at Lambeau Field by just three points to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. In fact, over the past five seasons, the Bills and Packers have the best (29-7) and third-best (26-9) records at home, respectively.
That may be one reason why a majority of the NFL players polled anonymously by The Athletic voted Green Bay and Buffalo as their least favorite road trips in the league.
Green Bay was the top vote-getter with 16 1/2 votes (one player split his vote) and Buffalo finished second with 12 votes. New York (seven votes) and Washington (six) came in third and fourth place out of the 98 players who responded to this question. Players were granted anonymity to speak freely about matters impacting the league.
Players’ complaints about Green Bay and Buffalo seemed mostly focused on the weather and lack of entertainment options.
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“It sucks,” one player said of Green Bay. “There’s nothing to do. The food stinks. It’s cold, obviously. It just feels like you’re in a tundra.”
“They ain’t even got Uber Black,” another player said of Buffalo.
While players voted Green Bay as the worst trip, one acknowledged that Lambeau Field does give the trip some redemption.
“It’s always cold,” he said. “There’s not a lot to do there. I love the stadium, though.”
New York’s surprising third-place ranking mostly had to do with the fact that the Jets and Giants play in East Rutherford, N.J., and teams have to stay too far away from New York City to enjoy the Big Apple. Players mentioned MetLife Stadium’s playing surface as another negative.
As for the more pleasant trips, Los Angeles received 18 votes as the league’s favorite road trip, the most from 108 responses.
“I feel like I don’t want to do too much on road trips anyways because it’s a business trip,” one player said. “But in terms of scenery, weather and all the rest of it, probably Los Angeles.”
Las Vegas, with 11 votes, finished second, followed by Seattle (10 votes) and Miami (7 1/2).
“It’s got to be Vegas. Vegas is sweet,” one player said. “You get the full glitz and glam of it. It’s got a great stadium. A ton of food options if you’re playing a night game there that you can go out to the night before.”
(Photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)
