GREEN BAY – The Packers conducted their first practice of training camp in pads on Saturday at Ray Nitschke Field, which coincided with quarterback Jordan Love's summer debut.
Here are five things we learned:
- It didn't take Love all that long to find some rhythm and make a big play.
Early in practice, when tight end Luke Musgrave and running back AJ Dillon ran into each other on a screen, and Love's short floater carried just over Musgrave's head into the arms of diving linebacker Quay Walker for an interception, it was fair to wonder just how QB1's first day might go.
But no worries. In a subsequent 11-on-11 period, Love connected with Jayden Reed on a crossing route, and then with Christian Watson on another crosser on third down. He handled a low shotgun snap and whipped a sidearm throw over the middle to Romeo Doubs. Then he recognized an unblocked Karl Brooks on the pass rush soon enough to get away and find running back Josh Jacobs for a nifty checkdown.
The biggest highlight, though, came at the start of a second attempt at the two-minute drill (after the first one stalled out). On the opening play, Watson got a step on cornerback Eric Stokes on a go route, and Love's deep ball was right on the money for a 47-yard diving catch that elicited the loudest cheer from the Nitschke Field crowd thus far in camp.
"I couldn't ask for a better ball on that one," Watson said. "That was a dot."
Added Love: "Christian is the speed of the team right there. To be able to hit him in stride and him make that play, it felt good to connect on that first day back, for sure."
Love finished the drive with back-to-back completions to Musgrave and then a 10-yard TD toss to Romeo Doubs, helping the offense get its mojo back after some rough days against the defense.
"It feels great to have him out there and start building something special," Watson said.
- Rookie Javon Bullard took his turn in the INT parade the safeties are conducting.
Through the first four practices of camp, safeties Anthony Johnson Jr. and Evan Williams had two interceptions apiece, and Xavier McKinney got one on Friday.
Saturday was Bullard's turn, as the second-round pick from Georgia stepped in front of undrafted rookie receiver Dimitri Stanley to snag QB Jacob Eason's throw and take off for what would've been a pick-six.
Bullard said he made the play based on recognition, having seen the offense run that exact route combination earlier. So he trusted his instincts and timed his break just right.
"Obviously we're all competitors so we all want to make plays and be playmakers back there," Bullard said. "All them boys got one. X got one, Evan got one, Stokes got some. So I'm like, Bull might want to get one. We feed off each other and it's all love in the room."
Bullard didn't want to rest on that play to call it a great day, though. It doesn't work that way during the film review sessions.
"We'll see once we get into the meeting," he said. "We were just talking about you think you had a good practice and go in the meeting room and don't grade out how you thought you did.
"I gotta wait about 45 minutes and we'll see if it was a good play or not."
Bullard also had a nice breakup of a slant pass for Watson earlier in practice.
- The pads going on definitely cranked up the intensity of the workout.
Typical of the first day in pads, a couple of minor skirmishes broke out. Cornerback Keisean Nixon and receiver Dontayvion Wicks were in the middle of one of them, while rookie offensive lineman Travis Glover and edge rusher Arron Mosby were involved in another.
Nothing lasted too long or proved too disruptive, however. The intensity was seen in other ways, too.
Early in practice, cornerback Jaire Alexander got up jawing and pointing at Love after he barely missed a diving interception on a quick out to Reed. Bullard also dropped a shoulder into Musgrave after a sideline reception for the first really big hit of camp, which fired up the entire defense.
"You gonna play football without shoulder pads, it ain't real football yet," Bullard said. "The fact we put them on today, I just feel like it's finally football.
"I ain't hit nobody in a long time."
- Padded work also helped clean up some of the offense's pass-protection issues.
It wasn't perfect, but the quarterbacks weren't under siege nearly as much on Saturday, and after Love's successful two-minute drive, QB Sean Clifford on his turn got the No. 2 offense into field-goal range. Clifford might've gotten a shot at the end zone, too, if not for a dropped pass on third down.
"The D-line are pushing our O-line to get better each and every day," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "It will be really interesting now that we have pads. I think it takes on a whole new dynamic. It's more real football.
"Quite frankly it's easier to grab onto some cloth when you've got pads on. So it'll be interesting to see how our O-line responds over the course of the next few weeks."
- Punter Daniel Whelan can put on a show.
The second-year punter, who beat out veteran Pat O'Donnell for the job last year and has no in-camp competition this summer, had an impressive live punting period, turning over spirals both into the wind and with it.
He had a couple of punts he'd probably like back, but on both of those the snaps were high. Anytime the snaps were right on target, Whelan was booming them.
Also with the specialists, it was kicker James Turner's day again, and he went 5-for-7 on live field goals ranging from 41 to 53 yards, though on one of the misses, the defense jumped the snap and was offside.
The other miss clanked off the left upright from 49. Turner finished strong with makes from 51 and 53 at the end of Clifford's two-minute drill.
