GREEN BAY – On a warm and muggy Saturday, the Packers held their Family Night practice, heavy on 11-on-11 work, in front of 60,887 at Lambeau Field.
Here are five takeaways from the evening:
- The No. 1 offense was clicking early, but the defense made things difficult from there.
In the first 11-on-11 period, QB Jordan Love started with a play-action completion to Christian Watson over the middle, had tight end Ben Sims wide open down the seam (but he failed to haul it in), found Romeo Doubs for a diving catch against tight coverage by Jaire Alexander, and sprung Dontayvion Wicks wide open on a layered cross off a play-action bootleg.
Doubs also made a couple of TD catches on back-to-back plays in the red zone, skying high to snag a short fade on the second one.
But other than that, the defense got the better of things. Rashan Gary had a would-be sack (and was in the backfield several times), Javon Bullard broke up a couple of passes, Eric Stokes and Quay Walker each deflected one, and there was hardly a memorable running play from the first unit as the defensive line was the standout group of the night.
"It's tough on the O-line right now," Head Coach Matt LaFleur admitted.
"It was a very vanilla playbook I would say on both sides. We're just wanting our guys to go out there, play fast, compete, show what they can do. It'll be similar probably to how we approach the preseason. You don't want to show too much."
It could help the offensive line to get starting tight tackle Zach Tom back into team work next week, which LaFleur said is the plan. Tom's been doing individual drills in his return from a torn pectoral muscle but hasn't taken any 11-on-11 snaps yet. The Packers have used Andre Dillard, Kadeem Telfort and Caleb Jones as the No. 1 right tackle at different times.
Tight end Tucker Kraft also could make his initial return from a torn pec next week as well.
Elsewhere on the health front, Josh Jacobs (groin) went through warmups but did not take any 11-on-11 snaps, and Kingsley Enagbarewas new to the injury list with a hamstring injury. Center Josh Myers was back again after missing additional time for a personal matter.
- There was one injury scare, but everybody's fine.
When Love tried a really tight throw down the middle seam for Watson and rookie safety Evan Williams came over to break it up, the collision near midfield wasn't exactly kind to Watson, who was between multiple defenders.
Holding his right side, he was checked out on the sideline and eventually returned to practice, but it looked like it could've been worse.
"Scary moment, certainly," LaFleur said. "I don't think it was malicious by any intent. Evan Williams was going to try to make a play on the ball, and those are the ones you worry about, those bang-bang plays down the field. I just told him to try to lay off in that situation, if you can."
LaFleur didn't take issue with Love trying the difficult throw into traffic, saying practice is the time to "experiment" and push limits at times. The onus is on the players downfield to anticipate potential danger and avoid it if necessary.
"There's opportunities where you can be a little more aggressive with your decision making," LaFleur said of the throw.
- Players on the reserve units had their moments as well.
Offensively, backup QB Sean Clifford had an impressive sequence where he hit Samori Toure for a sliding sideline catch on a deep out, a connection made possibly by a nice blitz pickup from Emanuel Wilson. Clifford then followed that up with a completion on an out route to Grant DuBose on the other side.
Defensively, a hat tip to rookie cornerback Kalen King, who showed as he's done all camp that he'll just keep battling. Early in practice, in one-on-ones near the goal line, King was beaten twice on inside moves that are difficult to defend with no one else out there. But he battled back to get a breakup before that period ended, and then he broke up two passes in 11-on-11 with tight coverage, one on a fade to Julian Hicks.
Toward the end of practice, one live tackling period was held involving the reserves. Rookie QB Michael Pratt completed a couple of nice deep in cuts to Dimitri Stanley and Hicks, while corner Robert Rochell and D-linemen Kenneth Odumegwu and Jonathan Ford all had tackles for loss on running plays.
Rookie linebacker Ty'Ron Hopper also made a nice stop at the goal line on fourth down, as running back Jarveon Howard caught a short pass over the middle but was denied the touchdown.
"We talked about it as a staff, there were certain guys we definitely wanted to see in that capacity," LaFleur said of the live tackling.
- The kickers were challenged with some long kicks late into the night.
Kicking at different intervals throughout the practice, Greg Joseph and Anders Carlson both made their field goals from 43, 45, 47, 49 and 52 yards to start. Then came the really tough ones.
Carlson was good from 54 but Joseph missed wide left. Then they both hit from 55, with Carlson's sailing through with plenty to spare. Unfortunately, they ended practice with both missing from 57.
Joseph's two misses on the night broke a long streak of makes that dated back several days. He's now missed four field goals in camp. Carlson has missed seven.
- The biggest cheer of the night wasn't for a Packers football player.
A youth football player from Waupun, Wis., brought the house down with an impressive display of punt catching off the JUGS machine. He caught three in a row – holding onto all the balls at once. When the third one came, he was holding the other two in his left arm and snagged it with his right arm, earning a massive cheer from the crowd and from the Packers players, who surrounded him on the field for claps and high-fives.
"That was pretty impressive," LaFleur said. "I mean, three? I know I couldn't do that. That was a good moment. I'm sure he'll remember that for the rest of his life."
It was just another example of what makes Family Night the best practice setting of training camp.
"What an atmosphere, man," LaFleur said. "It never gets old, going into Lambeau – the environment, the energy the fans brought."
