After a long and agonizing wait, the NFL preseason is finally here with the Packers playing the Houston Texas at Lambeau Field yesterday. Plenty of players deep in the roster were on the field for a preseason opener that ended up being settled at 28-26 with the Packers coming out ahead.
While it is to be expected to some degree, there were plenty of mistakes by the Packers that were frustrating. A nice scramble by DeShone Kizer was brought back by a holding penalty. What we also expected to see was mostly running plays as we did with Dexter Williams seeing the most action with 14 attempts for a yield of 62 yards. The Packers went extra deep in the roster with Tra Carson claiming 8 run attempts for a measly 15 yards. Both Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams were listed as questionable and were not participating.
We did get to see Jake Kumerow with a nice route up the middle leading to a first down. Overall, 9 players managed to claim a reception. Packers WR Allen Lazard, picked up from the Jaguars practice squad this past December, showed great athleticism with a catch for a touchdown toward the end of the third quarter. Fans are used to players phoning it in during the preseason, but guys like Lazard in a crowded field of WRs with something to prove can make some impressive plays. Making it even more interesting, it was thrown by third-string QB Tim Boyle. In fact, two of the three offensive touchdowns during the game were thrown by Boyle with Rodgers sitting the game out.
Also noteworthy was a first quarter punt by the Packers that resulted in a touchdown by Equanimeous St. Brown after a recovery. Texans WR Keke Coutee botched the catch and once the ball got away from him Brown was there for the recovery.
Nothing much to get too excited about. There was some drama during a joint practice session between the teams earlier this week with Houston Texans try-hard rookie Lonnie Johnson being ejected due to breaking the no tackling rule. One hit by Johnson involving TE Jace Sternberger ended with the Packers rookie TE laying on the ground with his helmet having come off during the impact.
Both Davante Adams and Jimmy Graham were quoted by ESPN on the incident:
You can do it in the games and you get fined. Be a coward when you do stuff like that in practice, it’s not a good look. We take care of each other up here. I don’t know how they practice, I don’t know what they do over there, but there’s consequences for stuff like that.
Jimmy Graham’s response:
Obviously he’s a rookie and he needs to know you can’t be hitting guys live in practice. That’s absolutely ridiculous. And we’re not going to stand for that here, obviously. I know his older guys over there are going to be on him about it because my young guy’s just running through a zone, obviously. Just run by him.
Matt LaFleur was also quoted by ESPN:
I thought there was no place for that. We addressed it. It’s an unfortunate deal, because I was pretty clear with our guys we’re not doing that stuff.
EN 
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J’Mon Moore was a big disappointment. He either dropped the ball or bobbled every catch he made. Why the heck didn’t this guy spend every waking moment in the off season on the JUGS machine? He is always getting separation from the defender. He’s a big target. He’s got a huge upside. But if can’t catch a football and you were a late round pick, in the NFL, you’re done.
I came to three conclusions late last night
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The pre-season has evolved to nothing more than getting some game tape on rookies, bubble guys, and UDFA’s imo.
This is the direct result of not wanting to get key players injured, but more so, getting a better sample size of player performance caused by the last CBA severely limiting contact in camps.
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We discovered first hand why J’Moore was MIA in his rookie season. And what was with the spike, and then the bad boy strut following? Dude, don’t worry about getting attention by grandstanding just because you caught a td pass you bobbled. Worry about catching footballs correctly in the NFL, As the announcer noted, get your hands in the right position to catch a football.
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I’m ready for week 1.
Helluva TD catch by Shepherd. Best play of the night for me was the Scott punt. He needs to find consistency.
Yea…good hands catching that high ball. I liked Lazards catch just as much if not more. Perfect timed leap on the run, high pointed and clean catch, against the Texans 2nd round pick.
Half this post-game summation was bitching about a hit in practice by one rookie on another.
What-what!?!
Puzzle me this: if it was a Packers rookie hitting a Packers rookie or a Packers rookie hitting a Texans rookie would it get this much POST-GAME (!) coverage?
Yeah, thought not. Just trying to build up the whole we are the good guys and the world is the bad guys theme.
Just go away…your act is so tired. It must be exhausting being so jealous of a team you claim to hate.
It’s riddle me this.
And the issue wasn’t the hit. People get hit. If he’d have just hit him and said sorry bud, my bad, it may have been easier to stomach.
The issue was the hit, standing over a player who very obviously just got his bell rung, and then posing like he was proud of the killer lick he just laid in the non-tackling drill.
Act like you’ve fucking been there. What are you so proud of? Congratulations…you managed to concuss someone who was under the impression this was a non-tackling drill and then you stopped to pose over him and flexed over a guy who could fold you in half (and basically did when they played in college).
Your ring is in the mail but it may take a while to get you the jacket and the bronze bust.
I bet you spike your doughnut every time you manage to make a copy, don’t you?
PF4L, just an observation of what we discussed about play clock.
The Packers snapped the ball 62 times, that includes punts. In those snaps this is what the play clock showed left at time of snap:
1-5 seconds left 8 times.
6-10 seconds left 27 times.
11-15 seconds left 21 times.
16-20 seconds left 6 times.
5 of the 1-5 second snaps came with Wilkins on the field. Wilkins probably was a little slower relaying the play in the huddle and processing information at the line.
I will be watching play clock when Rodgers is QB. It looks like less time will be used on the play clock with LaFleur in charge, at least it did with Kizer and Boyle. This will be interesting to watch in preseason and as the season progresses.
Yea…i would say that’s a fairly positive indicator.
Rewatched some of this game focusing on Rashan Gary. The guy did NOTHING. He lined up mostly against both the left and right tackles of Texans. Both of these tackles were guys who are scrubs, neither of them are starters, yet they each man handled Gary. Even the scrub tight ends man handled Gary.
I didn’t see that tbh. And i sort of lost interest. so much so that i was a bit too quick erasing it off DVR.
Did anyone notice the lack of tackling is still plaguing the Pack? Is it due to these “non contact” practice sessions? Maybe the mindset in actual game play is go easy on the posing side of the ball. There were no less than 4 instances of poor tackling, failure to wrap up the ball carrier. Just an observation, Go Pack Go!
I did….but i’m giving it a pass i guess because the majority of the players you see in pre-season, you’ll probably never see again. Those are some of the fringe guys the coaches need some game tape on. The rest are just camp body’s. Just as i won’t crown a player for a great pre-season, i won’t get too hard on them unless they do something worth mentioning for comedic value.