Paul Bretl | 8/20/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers were back on the practice field for the first time since Sunday night’s preseason game in Denver. It was a beautiful day for football, a bit cooler with a breeze, and practice was a bit shorter, lasting just under an hour and a half.
As always, let’s open up the notebook and dive into what took place during practice, along with some pre and post-practice quotes from Matt LaFleur and the team.
New additions to the injury report: AJ Dillon (stinger), Spencer Waege (concussion), Andre Dillard (shoulder), Tyler Davis (shouler), Preston Smith (illness). Carrington Valentine and Jordan Morgan continued to go through individual drills. Before practice, LaFleur said they would see how today and Wednesday went before deciding if Morgan would participate in Thursday’s joint practice. Rob Demovsky would report that Dillard’s injury is not considered serious.
Returning to the practice field was Edgerrin Cooper, who participated only in individual drills. Donovan Jennings was back after missing the preseason game in Denver, while MarShawn Lloyd was still out, and from the sounds of it, may not practice this week.
“Best feeling ever,” said Cooper about being back on the field. “I think that was the longest I’ve been without playing football and just missing out and stuff like that. It was mentally tough, but that the thing about being a pro and just do what you have to do.”
Roster moves: The Packers announced that they released UDFA running back Jarveon Howard, who had been dealing with an ankle injury and brought back Henry Pearson to fill his roster spot.
LaFleur wasn’t happy with how the team performed in last week’s joint practice and in the preseason game, specifically the execution–LaFleur said he didn’t have a problem with the effort. Early last week, he announced that the starters wouldn’t be playing against Denver in the game. This week, however, he is taking a different approach and said it is “to be determined,” whether or not the starters will play against Baltimore on Saturday and will be determined by how the week goes.
“I think we’re working through things,” said LaFleur before practice. “Some different stuff from a scheduling perspective in terms of what are the alternatives if we don’t play them, what are the benefits if you do play them? So I’m kinda working through that right now. We’ve had a lot of discussions internally and, like I said, to be determined.”
Jacob Monk gets a chance with the starters. With Morgan still not in the team portion of practice, Sean Rhyan was starting at right guard–as has been the case–but a change today was Monk was in the mix at right guard with the starters as well.
It was a rough practice overall for the Packers’ kickers. Greg Joseph would finish the day 2-for-5 with three straight misses. Anders Carlson was 4-for-5–missing from 47 yards. While Alex Hale was 3-of-5–missing from 49 yards and 46 yards. Now with only two practices left, Joseph and Carlson are almost identical on field goal makes versus misses, both are trending in opposite directions. Joseph has struggled the last week, while Carlson has been fairly consistent.
The starting offense looked very good today. Through two move the ball periods and the two minute drill, I had Jordan Love completing 14-of-17 passes, including two really well-placed balls to Romeo Doubs, one on a corner route with Eric Stokes in coverage and another down the right sideline between two defenders. Contributing to Love’s success was the offensive line, who held up very well in pass protection.
“We’ve got to take it one day at a time – for real – and just try to be as consistent as possible while learning and building on the offense,” said Elgton Jenkins. “I think we’re heading in the right direction, for sure. We’ve got a lot of guys who know how to play football. We’ve got one goal in mind.”
Practice would end with three two-point conversion attempts. On the first two attempts, the offense was unable to score with both passes broken up by Keisean Nixon and Jaire Alexander. In the offense’s defense, passing the ball in such a confined space is not easy. Then on the final attempt, Love tried to fit the ball in a tight window but it was batted up in the air by Quay Walker. It was Jenkins, however, who caught the ball just outside the endzone and he seemed to be pushed across the goal line by his teammates.
So did Jenkins actually score? Well, it depends who you ask. Evan Williams says no. But, of course, Jenkins disagreed.
“One-hand, man,” said Jenkins of his catch. “The ball was in the air and I seen the opportunity. You feel me? Once you see the opportunity, you’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to make a play. Score a touchdown and win the game.”
Tucker Kraft and YAC. We all know from last season Kraft’s ability to pick up yards after the catch and he showcased that today, turning two catches around the line of scrimmage into 10-plus yard gains. He looks really fast right now.
Javon Bullard was still the “starting” safety with Xavier McKinney, but he continues to get quite a bit of work from the slot. My gut instinct right now tells me that the nickel defender–whether Bullard or Keisean Nixon–will be dependent upon the opponent.
“We’re trying to get our best players out there,” said LaFleur about the secondary. “The guys that give us the best chance to win, and there’s nothing to say that you can’t have multiple groupings as well. I know a lot of teams will do that, just depending upon what they want to play. Do they have a lot of different bodies in there. Some teams will have a big nickel or they get more of the safety body type in there versus their regular nickel, it’s just however it shakes out.”