CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Carolina Panthers are bracing for "The Return of Aaron Rodgers," which airs on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium. In Hollywood, this might be likened to "The Return of the Jedi," since Rodgers is trying to save Green Bay Packers' playoff hopes, just as Luke Skywalker tried to save his father from the evil of the Dark Side.
Excuse the Star Wars references, but this might be how Panthers center Ryan Kalil looks at this week.
Kalil is a huge Star Wars fan.
Definitely the biggest on a 9-4 Carolina team making a playoff push.
Maybe the biggest in the NFL.
"There's no competition when it comes to Star Wars," Kalil told ESPN.com. "It's more recruiting others. But then there's also this thing of being OK with there being outsiders and having our own nerdom."
Rodgers and the Packers (7-6) aside, this is a huge week for Kalil. The latest in the Star Wars prequel, "The Last Jedi," premiers Friday, with sneak previews being offered on Thursday night.
Kalil planned to go Thursday night with most of the offensive linemen and linebacker Luke Kuechly, as well as a few others he's trying to turn to the "Light Side" of the force.
Call it Nerd Man Date II.
Nerd Man Date I occurred Dec. 17, 2015, when "The Force Awakens" premiered. Kalil rented out a small theater in Charlotte during Carolina's march to Super Bowl 50, and each player wore a specially made "Purrbacca" T-shirt, a Panthers play on Kalil's favorite Star Wars character, Chewbacca.
"Nerdy," said left tackle Matt Kalil on his brother’s love of ‘Star Wars.’ "He’s a big nerd."
The shirts became so popular that Kalil had a company in Greenville, South Carolina, design them to sell for Olsen's "HEARTest Yard" charity, as the tight end made his first run at the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award that he's up for again this year.
"Close to 100,000 we sold," Kalil said.
Kalil will be without his closet in-house fan of Star Wars this time. Tackle Mike Remmers signed with the Minnesota Vikings this past offseason.
"I think he's the most enthusiastic Star Wars fan inside of my circle," Kalil said of Remmers. "Maybe we'll Facetime when we go see it the first time."
Kalil became a Star Wars fan as a youngster after seeing the original -- 1977's "A New Hope" -- of creator George Lucas' series.
"As a kid, it was one of the first things I was introduced to," said Kalil, 32. "I think it was the first VHS that I owned. For some of our younger audience members, we didn't have iTunes and Apple TV and unlimited access to all these different properties.
"It was sort of rare to own movies at home. I just wore the heck out of that VHS to the point it wasn't right afterwards."
Unlike some, Kalil loves the prequels.
"I think I was the consumer base for that particular series, so I don't have a strong feelings against it as many others do," Kalil said.
That "The Last Jedi" in particular has a nostalgic feel with the return of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker has Kalil even more excited about the latest storyline.
Kalil loves returns. He made his own, or sorts, this past week, when he played his first complete game since Week 1 after missing all but one half of the previous 11 games with a neck injury.
He was excited for that, and his presence helped the host Panthers end Minnesota's eight-game winning streak.
On this day, Kalil was excited to show off his knowledge of Star Wars with a trivia test, courtesy of gamespot.com, which features "The 25 Toughest Star Wars Trivia Questions In Any Galaxy."
Here's a sample of how Kalil did:
1. What were Luke's aunt and uncle's jobs on Tatooine?
Kalil: "Moisture farmers." (correct)
2. In how many languages is C-3PO fluent?
Kalil: "More than six million." (correct)
3. What is the Wookiees' home world, and how do you pronounce it?
Kalil: "Kashyyyk (kah-SHEEK)." (correct)
4. Who actually shot first, Greedo or Han Solo?
Kalil: "It depends. Are we talking about the '97 version or the original? Han shot first." (correct)
5. Which character is partially named after George Lucas' son?
Kalil: "Oooh. I don't know that one." (answer: Dexter Jettster)
6. In which movie does the camera pan back up after the crawl?
Kalil: "In one of the prequels. Either Episode 1 or II: 'Attack of the Clones.'" (II, close enough, correct)
7. How many Dewbacks were in the original 1977 theatrical cut of the first Star Wars movie?
Kalil: "Two." (correct)
8. Which species stole the plans to the Death Star?
Kalil: "Bothans. Many Bothans died." (correct)
9. What was the original name of the first Star Wars movie when it went into production?
Kalil: "The Adventures of Starkiller something [as taken from the] Journal of the Whills." (correct)
10. Which bounty hunter in "The Empire Strikes Back” is wearing an old costume from a "Doctor Who” episode?
Kalil: "Bossk. The lizard-looking bounty hunter." (correct)
Kalil went on to get 14 of the first 16 questions correct before missing a couple in a row. This one might have been the most impressive: Asked what odds C-3PO gave Han for successfully navigating the asteroid field, Kalil nailed it with 3,720-to-1.
Out of 23 (we didn't make it through all 50) he only missed five, and those were extremely tough.
But Kalil was happy.
He's happy anytime he's talking about Star Wars, way more than he would be talking about Rodgers.
He just can't get quarterback Cam Newton to join his passion for the series, so the 2015 NFL MVP won't be attending "The Last Jedi."
"No, Cam doesn't watch Star Wars movies," Kalil said. "I just don't think that's his genre."