The Packers hosted the Patriots for a second day of scrimmages in Green Bay on Thursday, in what turned out to be an extremely chippy practice.
Here’s everything you need to know from Thursday’s practice, which featured as many as seven different fights or scuffles.
Attendance/injuries – Clark returns
David Bakhtiari practiced Thursday after resting during the first of the joint sessions with the Patriots. Kenny Clark and Tariq Carpenter also returned to the fold after dealing with back injuries.
Corey Ballentine, De’Vondre Campbell, Tyler Davis, Innis Gaines, Tyler Goodson, Caleb Jones, Bo Melton, Lew Nichols, Eric Stokes, and Luke Tenuta all remained out.
Depth chart – Tom leading RT battle?
The starting offense: Jordan Love, Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Luke Musgrave, David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan, Zach Tom.
On defense: Kenny Clark, T.J. Slaton, Devonte Wyatt, Kingsley Enagbare, Preston Smith, Isaiah McDuffie, Quay Walker, Jaire Alexander, Rasul Douglas, Darnell Savage, Jonathan Owens.
Team period – Pats defense locks down Pack
The Packers starters found life difficult against the Patriots defense on Thursday, with yards at a premium. Love zipped a nice pass to Toure on a deep out and once again showed off his hard count, getting the defense to jump, but it was tough sledding other than that.
Passes were often incomplete, routes were disrupted, blitzes weren’t picked up and even completions were quickly shut down for short gains as the Patriots defense put the clamps on the Packers.
There was some success on the ground, with Jones cutting back behind Bakhtiari and Jenkins for a decent pickup, and Dillon and Emmanuel Wilson also finding some room up the middle.
Swing passes out to Jones went for positive yardage, with Josiah Deguara and Dontayvion Wicks throwing blocks.
It was a similar story of struggle for the second and third-team offenses. Clifford sold a play fake brilliantly but threw too high for Cody Chrest, and generally didn’t have many open receivers to throw to.
Wilson and Patrick Taylor managed to pick up some yards on the ground, with the former also helped Rasheed Walker to pick up a pass rusher. Malik Heath continued to impress as a blocker.
With the threes, Nate McCrary found himself a running lane up the middle, but Alex McGough was sacked as the offensive line toiled throughout the day.
There were more positive plays to be found on defense for the Packers, although the Patriots still game them all they could handle.
Clark had several pressures throughout the practice and combined with Slaton for a sack of Mac Jones. The defensive line generated some push during the team period, with Wyatt also getting into the backfield.
Keisean Nixon and Owens broke up screens, while Savage had close coverage on an incomplete out route.
The defensive backs forced a coverage sack, with Kingsley Enagbare getting to the QB. The second-year pass rusher also drew a hold during team work.
Alexander committed a pass interference against Tyquan Thornton, while tight coverage from McDuffie was beaten by a nice Jones throw.
Red zone – Two TDs and a pick for Love
Love threw two touchdowns in the red zone period, both to Watson. The first came on the opening play, with hitting his receiver in the back of the end zone after Watson beat Marcus Jones on a post route.
The second score was a leaping catch by Watson, although Myers was beaten quickly and if the play was live, it may have ended in a sack or an offensive holding call.
Green Bay’s QB also tossed an interception trying to find Musgrave, with Kyle Dugger making the pick.
There were three other incompletions in the session for Love, with the Pats breaking up two passes and the quarterback failing to connect with Deguara, who was covered well, after being protected effectively by Bakhtiari and rolling to his right.
The second-team offense found the end zone, with Clifford hitting Wilson across the middle and later finding Austin Allen for another touchdown. Clifford might have been sacked on the first score if the play was live, though.
The Patriots also had some nice pass breakups, first on Deuce Watts in the back left corner of the end zone, and then on Grant DuBose who had run a slant.
Alex McGough had two passes batted at the line of scrimmage during the red zone period.
The Packers starters allowed three touchdowns against them, with DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne both scoring. The Patriots also found the end zone on the ground. McDuffie did have a sack during the period though after blitzing.
With the twos, Tyrell Ford had a pick of Bailey Zappe after his pass was deflected, and Jimmy Phillips also intercepted New England’s backup off a batted ball by Eric Wilson.
There was plenty of pressure up front, with Arron Mosby, Colby Wooden, and Brenton Cox all getting into the backfield.
Two-minute – Patriots dominate on both sides of the ball
The offenses faced the following situation: Down seven points with the ball on their own 25-yard line, 1 minute 40 seconds to go and two timeouts.
Unfortunately for the Packers, the Patriots didn’t let up on either side of the ball, intercepting Love on the first play.
The quarterback tried to fire a pass between cover two on the right sideline towards Samori Toure who had run a corner route, but Jones came up with the pick.
Given another shot, Love went to his favorite target, looking for Musgrave on three straight plays, before throwing towards Deguara in the end zone, with the tight end failing to come down with the ball.
After a pass breakup on an attempted pass to Wicks, the Packers faced 4th down. Love hit Musgrave in the end zone with an ideal pass, but Musgrave dropped what would’ve been the game-tying score.
Clifford and the twos struggled at the start of their two-minute drill, which included a false start and a pressure which forced the QB to throw incomplete. He then tossed a pass behind Deguara for another incompletion.
On 4th and 8, Clifford connected with Heath to keep the drive alive, with Wilson providing just enough time by picking up a blitz. Clifford then hit Heath again on a short pass, but the receiver turned up field rather than getting out of bounds, forcing a timeout to be taken.
A first down conversion followed to Chrest, who ran a comeback route to separate from his defender on the left sideline. An incompletion to Deguara over the middle and another short completion to Chrest in the flat set up 3rd and 7, with the Packers using their last timeout.
DuBose ran a deep cross and made a great catch for 20 yards, putting the Packers 21 yards out with seven seconds left after a spike.
Clifford threw up a prayer towards the end zone which could have been intercepted but was instead deflected into the arms of Chrest for a touchdown.
In contrast to the laboring Packers offense, the Patriots found moving the ball easy in the two-minute drill.
After three completions and one successful run up the middle, an Enagbare sack set the Patriots back. On the next play, Jones ripped a 45-yard touchdown to Parker, who got the best of Douglas.
Despite a pressure by Brenton Cox, as well as Jimmy Phillips and Eric Wilson on blitzes, and some tight coverage by Carrington Valentine and Kiondre Thomas, the second-team New England offense worked its way down the field.
A possible sack wasn’t called, with Zappe subsequently scrambling and completing a pass to the 1-yard line, before punching it in for a touchdown.
Special teams
The special teams period was killed early because of the number of fights taking place, but Rudy Ford and Carrington Valentine worked with the primary punt team as jammers.