The Green Bay Packers were back on the practice field on Sunday for the first time since their pre-season game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Here’s everything you need to know from practice.
Attendance/injuries – One new injury
Jake Hanson returned to practice after being out with an elbow injury.
Tyler Goodson missed out with a shoulder injury sustained in Friday’s pre-season opener. He was spotted on the sideline on Sunday wearing a sling.
Jaire Alexander took part in individual drills but did not do any team work as a precaution while he deals with a groin issue. Kenny Clark also sat out team work.
Tariq Carpenter was a new absentee with a back injury.
David Bakhtiari, Tyler Davis, Caleb Jones, Lew Nichols, Eric Stokes, and Luke Tenuta all missed practice.
Depth chart – Walker gets reps with the ones
To start the team period, Rasheed Walker got the start at left tackle ahead of Yosh Nijman.
The starting offense: Jordan Love, Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, Samori Toure, Luke Musgrave, Josiah Deguara, Rasheed Walker, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan, Zach Tom.
Romeo Doubs subbed in on the next play.
Jonathan Owens kept his starting berth at safety alongside Darnell Savage.
Carrington Valentine and Colby Wooden worked with the ones while Alexander and Clark were out.
In two-minute, Nijman started at right tackle with Tom moving to left guard in place of Jenkins.
Karl Brooks got snaps with the ones in the same period, as did Justin Hollins, Lukas Van Ness, Brenton Cox, Tarvarius Moore, and Keshawn Banks in a heavily rotated session.
Patrick Taylor saw some time with the first team in 21 personnel as a second running back.
The second-team offensive line: Kadeem Telfort, Royce Newman, James Empey, Sean Rhyan, Yosh Nijman.
After a big night on Friday against the Bengals, Emmanuel Wilson got reps with the twos.
Team period – Love loves Musgrave
Love enjoyed a fruitful team period, finding his young pass catchers with regularity. He started by rolling out and hitting Watson on a crosser, before ripping a pass to Musgrave. Up the middle for 10 yards with Valentine close by.
A theme throughout the practice, Love got the defense (Jonathan Ford on this occasion) to jump offsides, but he missed Bo Melton on the resulting free play.
With the pocket collapsing, Love side armed a pass to Dillon in the flat and then connected with Musgrave again for a big play across the middle, firing a pass over the linebackers off play-action, with the offensive line holding up well against Van Ness and Kingsley Enagbare.
Sean Clifford led the twos and hit Grant DuBose off a bootleg before he and center James Empey fumbled a snap exchange. This has been somewhat of a regular issue for both the starters and backups.
Wilson found a lane to run after an impressive jump cut, while with the threes, Jonathan Ford stopped a run in the backfield.
Red zone – Touchdowns for first and second-team offense
The offense had plenty of joy in the red zone period, with Love finding Doubs on an out route against Valentine and later throwing touchdown passes to Jayden Reed and two to A.J. Dillon.
Savage and Douglas had tight coverage and broke up passes aimed at Deguara and Musgrave during the period.
With the twos, Clifford found Tucker Kraft, Nate McCrary and Melton for scores, overthrowing Kraft on another play.
Alex McGough led the third-team offense and found Dubose for a touchdown, before giving Austin Allen a jump-ball which he couldn’t come down with.
Two-minute – Love leads offense to the end zone
The offense began at their own 30-yard line with 1:45 to go, down seven points with two timeouts.
Effective pass rushing from Hollins against Nijman forced a quick pass to Jones in the flat for no gain, before Love hit Toure on the right sideline between a cornerback and safety for around six yards, with Toure getting out of bounds to stop the clock.
Love then tossed two passes for back-to-back first downs, first to Jones on the sideline and then to Musgrave, who once again got behind the linebackers on a crosser.
After Love and Deguara were not on same page on the next play, the pass fell incomplete with Savage nearby. Love then got a free play using his hard count but overthrew Watson deep.
The quarterback missed Dillon on a checkdown on the next play, bringing up 3rd down and 5 with 52 seconds left and two timeouts, with the ball at the defense’s 38-yard line. Love connected with Reed on a slant to convert.
On a roll out to the left, Love found no one open and threw the ball away, before hitting Dontayvion Wicks on a crosser for nine yards and using a timeout, bringing up 3rd and 1 with 24 seconds left and the ball resting at the 22.
Love hit Watson on a quick out route to pick up the first down and get out of bounds with 20 seconds left and the ball now at the 15.
A pass to Jones in flat gained a few yards and stopped the clock by getting out of bounds before Love fired a touchdown to Reed from around 13 yards out. Reed got behind Keisean Nixon up the right seam and slid to catch a well-placed pass.
The offense went for two to win the game, but Love couldn’t connect with Doubs in the corner of the end zone, with Valentine in close coverage.
The second-team offense faced the same situation as the ones but started from their own 25. Clifford’s first pass was nearly intercepted by Isaiah McDuffie but fell incomplete.
Clifford found Taylor for a few yards, before ripping a brilliant pass to Kraft in the seam between three defenders. Unfortunately, the play was called back for reasons which are unclear.
On 4th down, Cox got into the backfield after beating Newman, ending the drill with a ‘sack’.
Autographed Memorabilia from Wisconsin Sports Legends and Athlete
Wisconsin Sports Heroics is proud partner with Radtke Sports to offer autographed memorabilia. Brett Favre Guaranteed Authentic Collectibles and Memorabilia including signed jerseys, photos, and more at www.RadtkeSports.com USE promo code: WSH for FREE SHIPPING on your purchase. Some restrictions may apply.
For More Great Wisconsin Sports Content
Follow me on Twitter at @theotherRobin19 and follow us @WiSportsHeroics for more great content. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in Wisconsin sports, click here!
