DENVER – The Packers and Broncos went at it for over two hours Friday in the heat and altitude.
Here are five takeaways from the workout:
- Josh Jacobs was a workhorse for the Packers' first-team offense.
Green Bay's new No. 1 running back had by far his busiest day on the field in training camp. Jacobs carried the ball or caught a pass on 12 of QB Jordan Love's first 30 snaps, and he didn't mind the workload one bit.
"It just felt like another day of practice today," Jacobs said. "Whenever it's time to compete, I always want to be out on the field.
"I feel like I had a lot of good runs today. Time to check film, see what I've got to work on."
Jacobs was also catching his share of passes on flares and sprint-outs. They weren't just checkdowns, either, but pass plays designed to get the ball in his hands out in space and/or in different parts of the field.
He's got the hands, too. As Jacobs leaked out of the backfield on a red-zone pass, Love's throw was a tad high, but he reached up and brought it down with a small juggle as the linebacker was closing fast.
"I tell Jordan all the time, 'Hey man, when in doubt, you know where to go,'" Jacobs said of being involved so much in the passing game. "So yeah I've definitely been enjoying it."
- Things got a little heated once, but only briefly.
Tempers flared a bit when Love's arm got hit as he tried to throw, and the resulting flutterball was intercepted by the Broncos. Green Bay's players took exception, because quarterbacks are off limits in practices as far as any contact. As players came together jawing at one another, things dispersed relatively quickly.
But Love didn't think anyone on Denver's defense did anything wrong. He thought right tackle Zach Tom got pushed back into him, bumping his shoulder and knocking the pass off-kilter.
"Just friendly fire," Love said. "I think a lot of guys didn't really see it and know what happened. We make it a big point to stay away from the quarterback, so they might've thought the D-lineman hit my arm or something like that."
- Overall, it was an up-and-down day for the offense.
The action was competitive across the board, such as when Denver's star cornerback Patrick Surtain fought with Romeo Doubs for a pass across the middle that fell incomplete, and when Christian Watson drew flags for getting grabbed on a deep ball.
It was tough to break through in the red zone, too, as corner Ja'Quan McMillan broke up a throw for Jayden Reed right at the goal line and Love was under pressure on occasion.
One of the smooth and successful moments for the Packers came when tight end Luke Musgrave released off the line on play-action and was wide open for a short throw in the flat, which he was easily able to take to the pylon for the score.
Musgrave called it a "little slam play," the slam referring to how he initially blocks down on the edge defender in order to sell the deception before he leaks out.
"Gotta block," Musgrave said of the key. "You've gotta act like you're actually blocking.
"If he doesn't think you're actually blocking him, he's just gonna drop (into coverage)."
The concluding two-minute drills did not go well for Green Bay's offense, though. Love initially went four-and-out, with Surtain breaking up a sideline pass for Doubs on fourth down. Sean Clifford then threw an interception on a deep ball on third-and-11.
Love and the first unit took another crack and got a first down on a pass to Musgrave, but pressure from Love's right side on back-to-back plays wrecked the next series.
- Kenny Clark enjoyed his big matchup inside.
The Packers' three-time Pro Bowler was matched up a good portion of the day against Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz, who just received a massive contract extension from Denver.
A third-round draft pick in 2021 from Wisconsin-Whitewater, Meinerz is listed at 6-3, 320 pounds but very well could weigh much more than that. Clark relished the challenge of taking him on in one-on-ones as well as the 11-on-11 action.
"I want to line up on him the whole time and see how he was going to set me and see how guys see me," Clark said. "That was huge for me. It was a good day."
The Packers' defensive front was disruptive for much of the workout, though Clark said the group was better early, before the heat and altitude got to them a bit. Meanwhile Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix impressed with quick decisions and several underneath completions.
"I was wishing he would throw me one or two, or throw a couple deep balls, but didn't get that look today," joked rookie safety Evan Williams, who was teammates with Nix last year at Oregon. "Nah, it was good. We caught up after practice. He's doing his thing."
- In the end, the work is valuable and important.
The Packers didn't put together a specific game plan for facing the Broncos, but that's by design. Going against an unfamiliar opponent forces players to read their keys properly on both sides of the ball and play the game without any benefits of getting "schemed up."
Love referred to it as "staying true to plays" when the opponent hasn't been studied or scouted extensively. Then the film sessions afterward become meaningful teaching periods to evaluate how players are seeing the game and reacting on the fly to carry out their assignments.
"It makes these guys really trust their rules," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said of joint practice work, which will continue next week in Green Bay when Baltimore comes to town. "I think it tests our rules, certainly, from a structural standpoint.
"We just want a good, competitive practice."
