It was a beautiful day in Green Bay. This was a fun practice with plenty of action. No new injuries and no one returned to the field from injury.
GENERAL/PERSONNEL:
Packers just finished up another 1-on-1 period. Watched WRs and TEs vs. DBs again and Innis Gaines was the player of the session. Kabion Ento and Rasul Douglas also picked off Jordan Love on two straight throws. Juwann Winfree and Amari Rodgers with best routes run on offense. Schneidman
QUARTERBACKS/WIDE RECEIVERS:
As improved as Jordan Love has looked in team periods, he still has work to do in 2-minute drill. Errant throws and inability to feel the pressure just hurt the Packers second-team offense, stopping drive short of field-goal position. Preseason will be a great litmus test. 2) Packers run an option keeper for Jordan Love in team period. Haven’t seen that much. 3) Rasul Douglas is so smooth when transitioning from coverage to playing the ball. Just jumped an out route vs. Randall Cobb in 1 on 1s and, without breaking stride, picked a Jordan Love pass for 6. Went the other way quick. Wood
Love finds Hyman in the back corner of the end zone. Beautiful throw and a leaping touchdown grab for Hyman. Love’s best throw of the day. 2) Nice find on a checkdown to Baylor. First down. [Pretty sure he’s referring to Love.] 3) Love throws deep middle and should have been picked by Gaines. Toure had Gaines beat but Love undercooked it. Lucky it wasn’t picked. 4) Loves turn in 2 minute [his first two minute series]. 1st play – incomplete to Doubs – qb and wr not on the same page. Love to Goodson over the middle. Love stripped, ball floats in the air, Tipa picks it and returns for a td. Defense balling again. [LaDarius Hamilton with the strip, per Bill Huber.] 5) Hyman I think catches a contested catch over the middle with Vernon Scott in very tight coverage. Hyman’s already got a couple catches again. He’s made the most of his opportunities. 6) Love throws low to Doubs on a wr screen. 7) Danny Davis had a step on Donte Vaughn but over shot. Herman
Aaron Rodgers’ pass tipped at the LOS, and rookie ILB Quay Walker picks it. Couldn’t tell if it was Kenny Clark or Jonathan Garvin with the batted pass. Both were in the backfield. 2) Aaron Rodgers is dealing today. Just fired a strike to Josiah Deguara, who found a soft spot in the zone, while rolling right. Best the offense had looked since Day 1. Wood [I hope not! TGR]
Rob Demovsky, Bill Huber, and I have watched our fair share of Aaron Rodgers play action, but that fake handoff to AJ Dillon got us all. He rolled right and we were all watching Dillon go up the middle, only to see Rodgers hit Lazard for a first down along the right sideline. Schneidman
Completion to Aaron Jones out of a 4×1 set and Jones in the slot. Huge play to start 2minute. Rodgers to Tyler Davis over the middle to keep the drive moving. Jonathan Garvin fantastic pressure – I think against Zach Tom. Garvin beats Tom next rep too. Herman [15 to 20 yard completion Adot to Jones.
Brutal drop by Toure in red zone on a slant that should have been a TD. Nice job by Love throwing with anticipation into an open window. Nagler
Lazard with a fantastic down block on Ramsey to spring a run to the outside. 2) Rodgers with a sick play action and a completion to Lazard on a crosser. Master technician at work. 3) Watkins wins deep for a td vs Shemar. Herman [A couple of crossers, one pretty deep, for Lazard. TGR]
Doubs:
Another impressive catch from Romeo Doubs, who had ILB Isaiah McDuffie draped all over him in the shallow middle, but held into a good ball from Jordan Love. Kid has strong hands. 2) Romeo Doubs continues to impress. Beat Eric Stokes on an inside route, then held on for a catch despite Stokes being called for DPI. Strong catch. Stokes was draped all over him. There hasn’t been a more impressive WR to this point in camp. Wood
Doubs gets paid off on the next play with a catch on a slant. 2) Complete to Doubs on back to back plays – the second play was a fantastic diving catch. [This was late in practice, and yes, that was a very good catch. TGR] 3) Doubs just caught a massively contested catch with Stokes all over him. Great coverage. Kid just keeps making plays. Herman
RUNNING BACKS:
Young players team period and BJ Baylor gets setup perfectly on a screen play. CVL, Rhyan, and Doubs (of course) leading the way. 2) Great blitz pickup again from BJ Baylor. Dude can block his ass off. Gave Love time to hit Toure but Toure dropped it. [Baylor had a nice blitz pick up in a prior practice. TGR] 3) Tyler Goodson is feeling himself today. Great run up the middle. Herman [Goodson can make a cut and accelerate. Showed it several times today. TGR] 4) Tyler Goodson with a hell of a run to the outside. Great hesitation move to spring him for extra yards. And follows it up with a huge run left with another great hesitation and cut. Huge two plays for 39. [Thought I remembered several really nice runs by Goodson!]
TIGHT ENDS:
TE Tyler Davis can run. Just got behind Rasul Douglas, wide open on a corner route, and Aaron Rodgers did not miss. About a 50-yard TD. Wood [AR on the run due to pressure up the middle by Quay Walker. I just didn’t see who the center/guard was. Bad because they knew it was coming. TGR]
There is a nice summary of the tight ends. They had a very good day. Bill Huber’s article in SI is excellent. He tells you in detail who did what to whom, and has a long list of results from one on ones.
OFFENSIVE LINE:
During the one-on-one pass-protection drill, here were the starters’ results: left tackle Yosh Nijman, 2-0 vs. Preston Smith; left guard Jon Runyan, 1-1 vs. Dean Lowry; center Josh Myers, 2-0 vs. Kenny Clark; right guard Royce Newman, 0-2 vs. T.J. Slaton; right tackle Zach Tom, 1-1 vs. Rashan Gary. Bill Huber’s article has the second team offensive line results and more information in general.
Two tries in one on ones, Slaton goes absolutely nowhere against Runyan. Teaching tape from the Packers guard. Nagler
Rookie Zach Tom getting a hard look at RT. He’s been there all day again, with Royce Newman at RG. Wood [Tom had some rough reps against Gary in one on ones. 0-2. Now I see Huber scored it 1-1; I suppose I had a bad angle and on one rep Tom ran Gary wide and around the QB. Very possible when one is 60 yards away. TGR]
Jonathan Garvin fantastic pressure – I think against Zach Tom. Garvin beats Tom next rep too. Herman [For those counting, that’s four pressures allowed by my count. TGR]
Caleb Jones has had a couple of real nice pass pro sets today. Herman [This man – Caleb Jones – is enormous (6’9″, 370 lbs.). Bakh looked, um solid, with plenty of sand in his behind. Tom looks noticeably smaller than every other offensive lineman. OC Clary got some individual attention during drills. TGR]
DEFENSIVE LINE:
Jonathan Ford with an impressive run stop. He’s got a real chance as #6 defensive lineman. 2) TJ Slaton blows up a run play in the backfield. Herman [At least 2 or 3 nice reps from Slaton today. TGR]
Dean Lowry looks really large. He is listed at 296 pounds, but he looked 320 to me. TGR
LINEBACKERS:
McDuffie with a run stop on Baylor. 2) Quay telegraphs a blitz but gets right through the line anyway. Rodgers is able to scramble to his right and hit Deguara over the middle. Rodgers in the zone so far today. Herman
DEFENSIVE BACKS:
Adrian Amos sure gets a nose for the football near the goal line. He just ended the Packers 2-minute drill picking a high Aaron Rodgers pass to TE Josiah Deguara in the end zone with 12 seconds left. 2) CB Kabion Ento. A college WR, he hasn’t been able to stay healthy, but might have most impressive hands on defense other than Rasul Douglas. He showed those hands picking a ball over Juwann Winfree down left sideline. Looked like a receiver on the play. Wood
Donte Vaughn pbu to end the session. Doubs was the receiver. Defense wins all three 2 min drills with 2 picks and a turnover on downs. Defensive backs were awesome. 2) Leavitt all over Dafney in the flat. Herman
Romeo Doubs just got his first taste of Smash Amos. Deep crosser and Amos cleanly laid him out (by accident) while breaking up the pass from Rodgers. Amos helped Doubs up afterward. Schneidman
Shemar good coverage on Winfree. 2) Shawn Davis looked to be holding [Alize] Mack. [Wow, I think I saw that – said aloud that the ref had his flag glued to his belt. Thought Jean-Charles held Lazard once as well but the pass went elsewhere and no flag. TGR] 3) Gaines fantastic pbu vs Amari. 4) Thomas great pbu vs Hyman. Physical coverage. 5) Sal Canella knows how to run a route. Easy separation vs S. Davis. 6) Rico great coverage and a pbu vs Doubs. 7) Winfree just put Gafford in a blender. Totally turned him around. Wide open completion. 8) Jaire tight coverage and pbu vs Lazard. Vernon Scott good coverage on T Davis. Amari just put Innis Gaines in a blender. Wow. Watkins – Gafford fun battle but overthrown. Ento with gorgeous coverage and a pick on Winfree. Beautiful play. Herman
Shemar Jean-Charles got into a bit of a tussle with Deguara. TGR
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Maybe one of the lost aspects of Romeo Doubs’ hot start to camp is that he has a legit chance to win the #1 punt return job. He looks so clean catching the ball, gets up field fast and utilizes his speed. Looks very natural. Herman
Photo courtesy of Samantha Madar and USA Today