Highlights From Practice 12 of Packers Training Camp
GREEN BAY, Wis. – While nothing is official, especially with three preseason games coming up, perhaps the Green Bay Packers have a preliminary starting offensive line for Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints in exactly one month.
Throughout training camp, the No. 1 offense has gone with a rotation of Jon Runyan at left guard and Lucas Patrick at right guard, Ben Braden at left guard and Patrick at right guard, and Runyan at left guard and Braden at right guard. On Thursday, however, every period featuring the starting offense opened with Runyan at left guard and Patrick at right guard.
“It’s going to be great to have these three preseason games to roll everybody through, and then not to mention having some practices against the Jets next week to let it play itself out,” coach Matt LaFleur said this week. “We’ve been putting a lot of different combinations out there and it’s great to have a lot of people that could potentially fill that role but typically that stuff will play out over the course of the next four weeks.”
With All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari recovering from the torn ACL sustained on New Year’s Eve, Pro Bowl left guard Elgton Jenkins has been manning left tackle throughout training camp. Jenkins is a two-year starter but hasn’t opened a game at left tackle. Runyan got some key reps as a rookie last year but hasn’t started a game in his career. And rookie center Josh Myers obviously hasn’t started a game, either. Going with Patrick at right guard would provide some stability. Patrick and Billy Turner formed the right side for most of last season.
Getting Healthy
The Packers are getting a lot healthier heading into a big nine days, with preseason games against the Houston Texans on Saturday and the New York Jets next Saturday sandwiching joint practices with the Jets on Wednesday and Thursday.
Cornerback Kevin King, defensive tackle Kingsley Keke and rookie inside linebacker Isaiah McDuffie, who had spent the first 11 practices on the non-football injury list, made their training camp debuts. When the team returns to practice next week, the battle between King and first-round rookie Eric Stokes for a starting job will really get cooking.
Also back: linebacker Kamal Martin.
Only three players remain on injury lists: All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, Pro Bowl outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith and backup safety Will Redmond.
Packers Make Roster Move
The Packers signed cornerback Dominique Martin and placed outside linebacker Randy Ramsey on injured reserve. Here’s a bit of Martin’s story, and we’ll add to it later tonight. Ramsey’s season is over with an ankle injury, a big blow to Green Bay’s special teams.
Play of the Day
During a starters-vs.-starters move-the-ball period, the offense faced a third-and-2. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry tried to substitute but, as coordinators across the NFL have known for years, substituting against MVP Aaron Rodgers is like a game of chicken during rush hour.
Rodgers caught the personnel changes, rushed the offense to the line of scrimmage and caught linebacker Oren Burks as the 12th man on the field. With a free play, Rodgers found tight end Josiah Deguara for a gain of about 15 or 20 yards. After the play, Rodgers was especially pleased with Myers for getting the line set and snapping the ball.
Packers Injury Report
New Injuries: None.
Old Injuries: WR Equanimeous St. Brown (hamstring), RB Aaron Jones (hamstring), OLB Rashan Gary (groin), OLB Randy Ramsey (ankle), WR Juwann Winfree (shoulder), DT Kenny Clark (groin).
Returned to Practice: WR Chris Blair (ankle), CB Stanford Samuels (foot), ILB Kamal Martin (knee). Plus, CB Kevin King (hamstring), ILB Isaiah McDuffie (hamstring), and DT Kingsley Keke (ankle) were activated from the non-football injury list. All three will be eased into the action after missing the first 11 practices.
Non-Football Injury List: S Will Redmond (foot), OLB Za’Darius Smith (back).
Physically Unable to Perform List: LT David Bakhtiari (knee).
Some Quick Reads
– During a starters-vs.-starters 2-minute drill, the offense started with the ball at its 20 with 1:44 on the clock, one timeout and in need of a touchdown. Rodgers’ completions to Randall Cobb and Davante Adams moved the chains. After a false start and an incomplete pass, rookie running back Kylin Hill made an excellent one-handed catch to pick up 11 yards. Rodgers found Deguara for 14 to convert a fourth-and-4, then clocked the ball with 3 seconds left. That left a last-gasp play from the defense’s 37. Rather than throw a Hail Mary, which creates some injury danger in the end zone, Rodgers threw a quick pass in the flat to Cobb. Cobb’s lateral, which was sort of in the vicinity of Jenkins, hit the turf as time expired.
– The No. 2 offense scored but the defense won, anyway. On third-and-3, Jordan Love took advantage of a horribly busted coverage. His wobbling deep ball connected with receiver Malik Taylor for a 53-yard touchdown. LaFleur kept the offense on the field for a winning two-point play but Love couldn’t quite connect with Amari Rodgers in the back of the end zone against good coverage from Shemar Jean-Charles.
– Aaron Rodgers won’t play on Saturday night but he was sharp enough on Thursday. He completed 13-of-15 passes (one drop) during the regular team periods and went 6-of-8 on the failed 2-minute drive. There were no big completions; his only deep attempt sailed over Adams’ head.
– Defenders can’t sack the quarterback; they’re supposed to run past the quarterback so the play can continue. But Preston Smith continued his strong training camp with two more “sacks.”
– On the fourth play of the day, running back AJ Dillon took his run to the right but cut back across the field to the left. His lead blocker? Rodgers, who gave a little shove to cornerback Josh Jackson and then flexed in front of him.
– Linebacker De’Vondre Campbell was all over the place, stopping one run after another. He “tackled” Hill on back-to-back plays in the opening period.
– New outside linebacker Chauncey Rivers had a tackle for loss on running back Patrick Taylor and a big pressure against rookie Royce Newman, who was at right tackle. Later, Rivers beat rookie Cole Van Lanen, who was at left tackle.
– The good and bad of Love, in back-to-back plays. The bad: His deep ball to Malik Taylor was intercepted by safety Adrian Amos, who ranged across the field and made a leaping grab. The good: A beautiful deep ball to DeAndre Thompkins for a touchdown against Kabion Ento.
– For the second consecutive day, Dillon dropped a pass in the flat. Meanwhile, Adams has dropped a pass in individual drills or team periods in five of the last six practices.
– For the second consecutive day, receiver Devin Funchess limped off the field. While he returned to action on Wednesday, he did not on Thursday.
– None of the practice work this week was dedicated to the game against Houston but LaFleur said the team would hold a walk-through in the stadium on Thursday dedicated to the Texans just so the players will have some idea of what to expect.
Packers Training Camp Schedule
After four consecutive practices, the Packers will be off on Friday and host the Texans on Saturday. Next week, the Packers will host the Jets for joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday. Those will be the final two practices open to fans this summer.
