LaFleur hopes Rodgers can practice Sunday

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers sat out the loss to Baltimore due to back tightness.

After unexpectedly sitting out Thursday’s preseason loss at Baltimore due to what the team called back tightness, days off on Friday and Saturday will give quarterback Aaron Rodgers a chance to feel better for this week’s practices and Thursday’s game at Winnipeg.

“A lot of it is going to be predicated on how he feels,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Rodgers practicing on Sunday.

Rodgers isn’t the biggest fan of preseason football, stating numerous times that he gets more out of a practice against coordinator Mike Pettine’s attacking defense than he gets out of facing another team’s dumbed-down defense in an exhibition.

LaFleur, however, spoke of the intangibles involved in getting Rodgers at least some work against the Oakland Raiders in Canada.

“I just think those guys all going out together prior to the Chicago game just to work the kinks out, if there are any, but just to try and get into a flow of the game,” LaFleur said. “Having him hear the play calls when he’s actually the guy out there, get in and out of the huddle. I thought he's definitely helped stress that urgency to the other 10 in the huddle and I thought last week was better. It’s more or less just getting into that flow.”

The Packers will practice at 1:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday. Those are the last two training camp practices that will be open to fans. The team also will practice on Tuesday before departing for Winnipeg on Wednesday.

None of the backup quarterbacks – incumbent No. 2 DeShone Kizer, second-year player Tim Boyle or undrafted free agent Manny Wilkins – have taken advantage of the additional playing time.

Boyle’s preseason passer rating of 112.2 is impressive but he wasn’t accurate enough to move the offense consistently against the Ravens. Accuracy is the name of the game in Matt LaFleur’s offense; Boyle has completed 57.7 percent of his passes in two games.

Kizer, who started both games, has completed 56.5 percent of his passes in two preseason games. On fourth-and-4 from the Ravens’ 39 on the opening possession, he threw a high fastball that whistled through Adams’ hands on what should have been an easy completion. On his next possession, he didn’t give St. Brown or tight end Jimmy Graham a chance to use their size on deep passes.

“We hesitated just a touch going to Davante and he threw a high ball,” LaFleur said. “Then the second drive, we moved the ball all the way down and we got into the red area, and I think on first-and-10 we ran the shallow cross where we had Jimmy across the field and we missed him. I thought he was open, and DeShone flushed the pocket. Even if he said ‘no’ to Jimmy, he should have gone to his second read and then his third read and he had Marquez (Valdes-Scantling) open on the left-hand side. But instead he flushed the pocket and we lose 3 yards.”