Highlights From 18th And Final Practice of Packers Training Camp
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers training camp is over. Aaron Rodgers closed it with a bang, and the No. 1 defense did what it’s done all summer.
First, the reigning MVP was rolling on Thursday.
On his third throw of the day, Rodgers rolled out to his left and uncorked a bomb to the right to Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a big gain. Rodgers and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett celebrated as if they’d just drawn up a fourth-quarter touchdown.
“Sometimes, we sit in the room and we talk about certain plays in the mornings, and that can be the genesis for a big play or a crappy one,” Rodgers said after practice. “You only celebrate on the good ones, obviously, but we talked about that play. Hackett actually came up with it. We’ve been working on some different concepts to work on the next two weeks as we’re looking ahead to New Orleans in the regular season.”
Rodgers said he could have thrown the ball to Randall Cobb or Davante Adams but the sight of a streaking MVS was too good to pass up.
“He’s pretty fast, and I didn’t quite run out of arm,” Rodgers said. “It’s fun when things come together like that in the QB room and then you can execute them on the field.”
In the next sequence of plays, Rodgers used deft touch to float one over cornerback Chandon Sullivan, who had superb coverage on Adams, for a big gain. On the next play, Sullivan was victimized again as Rodgers went deep and Valdes-Scantling skied for the catch.
During the third series, a move-the-ball drill, Rodgers completed 8-of-9 passes, with the only incompletion a throwaway.
Finally, Rodgers threw three touchdown passes out of seven attempts in a red-zone period. More on those later.
However, in a starters-vs.-starters 2-minute drill, the defense won, as has been the case throughout the summer. Needing to go 80 yards in 1:25, Rodgers completed three chains-moving passes to Adams. At the defense’s 37 with 6 seconds to go, Rodgers threw one of his patented rainbow Hail Marys to the end zone but the play was blown dead with the ball in the air to prevent an injury on the jump ball.
Told he had been “pretty sharp” during training camp, Rodgers responded: “Pretty sharp? I think it’s been a good camp, definitely been a good camp. I’ve felt good from the beginning. It’s a fine line because, as you guys have seen over the years, I do like to work on things and test things in training camp and make maybe slightly dicier throws than I would in the regular season.
“But it’s about finding that muscle memory and those moments to be able to repeat those throws or those pocket movements to get to a platform to make a throw. I think that I’ve been accurate. A lot of that is due to my legs, which I talked extensively about last year. But having my legs underneath me has really meant a great deal to my ability to be consistent with my balance and my rhythm and my timing. And when all those things are kind of aligned, that’s when the accuracy comes. I think I’ve been pretty accurate.”
Love vs. Buffalo Bills
After missing last week’s practices and the preseason game against the Jets with an injured throwing shoulder, Jordan Love participated in all three practices this week and, barring a setback, will be the starting quarterback for Saturday’s preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills.
“He said there’s no pain, so we’ll let it go through the week and we’ll see,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice.
As was the case on Tuesday, Love had an up-and-down day. He hit Amari Rodgers on play-action for a big gain, threw with velocity on a completion to Damon Hazelton and connected with Malik Taylor on a deep ball. He also was intercepted by rookie safety Christian Uphoff and didn’t get close to gaining even a first-down during a 2-minute drill.
“The most important thing for any young quarterback, especially for J, is the footwork,” Rodgers said. “When he throws the ball on time, he’s a very accurate quarterback. If there’s any type of clutter with progression or read or whatever, for any of us, any quarterback, when you’re not throwing the ball in rhythm, it becomes more difficult to be accurate and be effective. Today we were working on a couple things with (quarterbacks coach Luke) Getsy, I thought he did a really nice job with a couple things we were working on with him and Kurt (Benkert) and Jake (Dolegala). He just needs to trust his footwork and go out and play in rhythm.”
The plan, LaFleur said, is for Love to play the first half and potentially the start of the second half. While LaFleur will keep most, if not all, of his starters on the bench, the Bills will play at least some of their top defenders. That means quality work not only for Love but for the linemen who will get the starting assignment. Some blockers who figure to get ample playing time, such as Yosh Nijman, Ben Braden and Jake Hanson, are battling for roster spots.
“Some of the starters won't play, some will play,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “The majority will play. Some will come out of the locker room after half and give it a series in the third quarter.”
While Rodgers won’t play, his counterpart, Josh Allen, will get the start.
Plays of the Day
The red-zone drill included four consecutive plays by four of the team’s best players.
One: With the ball at the 16, Rodgers fired the ball to Adams on a post. Adams, who dropped a handful of passes earlier in camp before rounding into form, made a sensational catch, reaching low to pluck the ball just a fraction of an inch above the grass.
Two: With the ball at the 14, Rodgers floated the ball to tight end Robert Tonyan, who made a leaping, one-handed catch in the back of the end zone against Kevin King. Tonyan has the best hands on the team, and he made this incredibly difficult catch look incredibly easy.
Three: With the ball at the 12, Rodgers fired a back-shoulder pass to receiver Malik Taylor. The ball was perfect and beat cornerback Jaire Alexander’s sticky coverage.
Four: With the ball at the 8, Rodgers threw a fade to the back corner of the end zone to Adams but Alexander’s coverage was perfect and the ball fell incomplete.
Packers Injury Report
New Injuries: WR Equanimeous St. Brown (undisclosed), CB Eric Stokes (dropped out early in practice), DT Tyler Lancaster (undisclosed).
Old Injuries: S Vernon Scott (hamstring), OLB Za’Darius Smith (back), OT Dennis Kelly (knee), WR Juwann Winfree (shoulder).
Returned to Practice: LB Ty Summers (hamstring).
Physically Unable to Perform List: LT David Bakhtiari (knee).
Injured Reserve: WR Devin Funchess (hamstring), S Will Redmond (toe), OLB Randy Ramsey (ankle).
Released From Injured Reserve: WR DeAndre Thompkins (shoulder), TE Isaac Nauta (chest).
Some Quick Reads
– Today was JJ Molson’s day to do the kicking. And, oh, did he kick. He made all seven field-goal attempts, capped by bombs from 56 and 60 yards. The 56-yarder might have been good from 65 while the 60-yarder just made it over the crossbar. Molson’s third kick was a 43-yarder that followed yet another low snap by Hunter Bradley.
– If it was Molson’s final practice with the team, it will be a memorable one. And if this was Dolegala's final throw with the Packers, this will be memorable, too. During a special teams period, the quarterbacks took turns throwing the ball into a 2-foot-wide net parked in the back corner of the end zone. On his final attempt with the ball at the 33, Dolegala threw the ball about 50 yards (including his dropback) and swished it into the net.
– During the aforementioned 2-minute drill, defensive tackle Kingsley Keke had a sack. Keke and outside linebacker Preston Smith, who had a sack earlier in the day, had tremendous training camps.
– As mentioned earlier, the backups-vs-backups 2-minute drill didn’t go anywhere. Love completed his first pass to running back Kylin Hill for 3 yards, but the second-down pass to Reggie Begelton lacked velocity, the third-down pass appeared to be a miscommunication and the fourth-down pass was foiled by outside linebacker Delontae Scott’s pressure.
– As has been the case all week, the guard competitions continued with Lucas Patrick on the left side and Royce Newman on the right side. Jon Runyan also got some first-team reps at left guard.
– De’Vondre Campbell is pushing Krys Barnes for the role of every-down linebacker.
– Benkert, not Love, got the red-zone work. On back-to-back plays, he threw touchdowns to Hazelton, who was signed last week. The first was a toe-tapper at the sideline against tight coverage by Isaac Yiadom. The second came against Kabion Ento.
– Speaking of Yiadom and Ento: Yiadom, who was acquired last week in the Josh Jackson trade, took one first-team rep with Alexander. It appears Yiadom has passed Kabion Ento on the depth chart; Ento got roasted on a crossing route by Hazelton.
– Tight end Bronson Kaufusi’s long-shot hopes of earning a roster spot were hurt when he was flagged for a false start and then gave up a tackle for loss in a span of three snaps.
– Here’s LaFleur on training camp: “There’s so much that you get out of it every day. I think one of the most important things is how you’re coming together as a team and how you’re gelling in that regard in really all three phases. We have new systems on special teams and on defense, and just getting everybody acclimated that way. Really, the goal of training camp is to get ready for Week 1 and throughout the course of the season. You always feel optimistic going into Week 1, but until the season gets here you never really know. There’s so many variables that will play themselves out, even from now to Week 1. And then every week, something new will come up. So, how do you weather the adversity that’s going to strike every team in this league? But I love that locker room. We’ve got a bunch of not only really talented players, but I think pretty resilient players, as well. So, I know we’re optimistic and we’re excited for the season.”
Packers Training Camp Schedule
Training camp is over. The Packers will close the preseason at the Buffalo Bills at noon Saturday. The roster must be cut to 53 players by 3 p.m. Tuesday. The 16-man practice squad can be formed starting at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
