Packers Family Night Recap: Touchdowns Galore for Love & Offense

The Packers hosted their annual Family Night on Saturday, with Jordan Love taking center stage as QB1.

Here’s everything you need to know from the practice.

Attendance/injuries – offensive line compromised

David Bakhtiari did not participate in family night. He now has not practiced since dropping out of Tuesday’s session. After practice, Matt LaFleur indicated there was no concern over Bakhtiari’s knee, and that his practice schedule may well be fluid throughout the season.

The other anchor of Green Bay’s offensive line, Elgton Jenkins was also absent with an illness.

Lew Nichols missed out after taking a big hit during Thursday’s padded practice.

Josiah Deguara (calf), Jake Hanson (elbow), Grant DuBose (back), Eric Stokes (foot), and Rashan Gary (knee) remained out with their pre-existing injuries.

Depth chart – Owens keeps starting spot

Jonathan Owens started across from Darnell Savage at safety to open practice for the second time in a row and stayed with the ones all night.

Tyler Davis lined up at H-back in the absence of Deguara.

The starting offense: Jordan Love, Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Tyler Davis, Luke Musgrave, Yosh Nijman, Royce Newman, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan, Zach Tom.

The starting defense: Preston Smith, Kenny Clark, T.J. Slaton, Devonte Wyatt, Justin Hollins, Jaire Alexander, Quay Walker, De’Vondre Campbell, Rasul Douglas, Darnell Savage, Jonathan Owens.

The second-team offense line: Rasheed Walker, Sean Rhyan, Cole Schneider, James Empey, Caleb Jones.

Rudy Ford and Tarvarius Moore were the second team safeties.

One on ones – Heath stakes his claim

Rhyan continued his terrific performance in the one on ones, holding off Wyatt on back-to-back reps.

Nijman won the battle in his two reps against Hollins, and Tom fared well versus Lukas Van Ness. Clark and Runyan each won a rep in their matchup.

The highlight of the pass catcher versus defensive back matchups was Musgrave toasting Savage for a big play.

Undrafted receiver Malik Heath continued to impress in one on ones, beating Tyrell Ford on comeback route and then a slant, before shaking William Hooper for a touchdown.

Team period – Defense keeps making plays

Love struggled to find his accuracy early on, overthrowing Doubs after he cooked Alexander, and then sailing a pass too far in front of Musgrave.

He got into a groove not long after, converting a quick out to Doubs on 3^rd and 3 for a 1^st down, beating Douglas in coverage, then hitting Musgrave on a similar play for 5 yards and Tyler Goodson in the flat for 4, with Keisean Nixon stopping the play there.

After Alexander had a pass breakup against Doubs on in-breaking route, the receiver appeared to run the same route a play later, with Love hitting him for 21 yards.

Love then fired to Reed on a crosser, beating Valentine for a gain of more than 10 yards.

Walker shut down an inside run from Jones, and number 33 was later stopped quickly by Clark and Campbell, but then had a successful run right, helped by Tom and Runyan. Owens put a quick stop to a Jones run later in the practice.

Dillon found some room to run inside and later dashed through a hole on the left side, opened by Newman who blocked Karl Brooks.

Goodson located a lane to the left, dashing for around 5 yards, before Patrick Taylor picked up yardage after showing excellent vision. Wilson also ran well on Saturday, finding lanes regularly.

Davis displayed some excellent blocking, springing a Patrick Taylor run by stonewalling Kingsley Enagbare, but also had a false start. Kadeem Telford blocked well with the third team, allowing Emmanuel Wilson to get to the edge.

Sean Clifford picked out Kraft in space, and the tight end scampered for 15 yards after the catch. He fired to Heath who beat Tyrell Ford for a 56-yard touchdown, but Wooden would have got home for a sack before the pass was thrown if the play were truly live.

Etling threw a quick out to Heath for around 5 yards with Ballentine in coverage before targeting Ballentine again, this time connecting with Melton who jumped to make a back shoulder catch for 15 yards on 3^rd and 3.

Deuce Watts caught a slant pass which was just behind him from Alex McGough, beating Innis Gaines.

Wyatt keeps making plays, “sacking” Love on Saturday after bull rushing Myers. Rookie defensive linemen Colby Wooden and Brooks combined for a tackle in the backfield.

Getting some reps with the ones, Van Ness had what was probably a sack on Love with the offense backed up inside their own five-yard line, going through Musgrave to the QB.

Notably, Walker was seen rushing from the line of scrimmage at times during the practice.

Enagbare had a likely sack and also stopped Clifford from escaping the pocket up the middle. Jonathan Ford had a “sack” of Danny Etling and made a stop in the backfield later.

Tarvarius Moore locked up Malik Heath in coverage, Keshawn Banks had a pressure on McGough. Jean Delance had a false start.

Red zone – touchdowns galore

Dillon showed patience on a 3-yard run, before taking a pitch left to the house with help from Kraft, Watson, and Musgrave blocking.

Slaton applied pressure to move Love out of the pocket, before the QB hit Reed over middle despite close coverage by Alexander. In similarly off-script fashion, Love threw a sidearm pass to Jones for a TD after rolling left and buying time. Jones shook Nixon for the score.

Wyatt ripped through Royce Newman for another pressure, but Love picked out Reed in the end zone for a touchdown in time.

Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson shut down Taylor (McDuffie also had a run stop during the team period), before Etling stood tall in the pocket and ripped a touchdown pass to Heath in the back of the end zone, who had beaten Corey Ballentine on an over route.

Rasheed Walker provided excellent pass protection on the play, but later had a false start during another team period.

Clifford found Kraft for a touchdown against Anthony Johnson Jr., while McGough hit Emmanuel Wilson in the flat for a score.

Live tackling period – Carpenter’s turnovers

Linebacker Jimmy Phillips had two tackles in the live period, one for a loss, before Tariq Carpenter intercepted Clifford’s pass over the middle which was intended for Kraft.

Goodson had a couple of effective runs, helped by Telfort on one of them, before Tyrell Ford stopped him in his tracks on the next play with a tackle.

Watts caught another pass from McGough, this time a quick screen, before Austin Allen grabbed a ball over the middle and ran through Benny Sapp.

Carpenter had his second turnover of the period, catching a loose ball that Sapp knocked out of Wicks’ hands after he initially won with an effective route.

Two-minute drill – quick score for Love and company

The offense was given the following scenario: Ball on their own 25, 1st and 10 with two minutes left.

Myers botched the first snap, the fifth time there has been a fumbled snap in camp so far, with Myers involved in all of them.

After that, the offense quickly drove down the field, as Love hit Musgrave over the middle for around 30 yards and then Watson on a slant for 20, before connecting with Watson in the end zone, lofting a pass which his receiver jumped to grab over Ballentine.

The second-team offense, led by Clifford, marched down the field and set up for a 51-yard field goal which Anders Carlson sent through the uprights. The drive featured completions to Wicks, Melton, and a big play up the seam to Davis after excellent pass pro by Goodson.

Valentine had two pass breakups on the drive for the defense and Brooks had two sacks.

Special teams – Carlson steps up

Carlson enjoyed by far his best practice as a Packers, missing just one kick after a poor snap and hold and making the other eight kicks from 40, 43, 44, 45, 49, 51, 51, and 53.

Keisean Nixon opened as the kick returner, while Taylor was on the starting kick return unit, which could help his case to make the 53-man roster as he competes with Nichols and Goodson.

The same could be said for Gaines and Carpenter, who started on kick return and kick coverage as they look to crack the roster at defensive back and linebacker respectively.

Nixon & Ford received the first reps as flyers, followed by, Gaines and Ballentine.

Van Ness worked on punt team as a lineman, and Daniel Whelan got some reps kicking off.