1. Acceptable performance by Jordan Love to finish preseason
For the third game in a row, Jordan
Love had a pretty solid night where the box score won’t tell the whole story. Love
threw an interception towards the end of the first half trying to make
something happen that will make the night look worse, but trying to make a play
in that situation isn’t all bad. The Chiefs after the interception had the ball at their own 15 yard line and seven seconds left in the first half, really nothing to lose in that situation. We would have liked to see him at least get
the ball into field goal range, sure, but he gave his wide receiver a chance to
make a play. Additionally, Love played most of the first half against defensive
starters, and if it wasn’t for some bad penalties, would have led them two touchdown
drives. Lastly, the offense was playing backed up or behind the sticks most of
the game due to terrible special teams and low production on first down runs.
On the night, Love went 16/26, 148 yards,
and 1 INT. He also took a sack that he should not have as he had Tyler Davis
open for a short throw but tried to scramble instead. Love did have completions
of 23, 16, 15, and 13 twice, so he was pushing the ball down the field with
some nice throws and hitting some tight throws; Love had some really nice
completions on play action plays. However, where last week it was a few big
drops by the wide receivers, this week it was Love just barely overthrowing Juwann
Winfree on a few occasions. If Love and Winfree are able to connect on one or
more of those deep shots, the night looks a lot better. Jordan Love did connect with Samari Toure and Amari Rodgers both several times.
Overall, Love had a successful
preseason. The numbers won’t look all that great, but there is a lot more to
his performance than what the box score says. Love was much more in rhythm and
looked far more comfortable in the offense, also some improved footwork; it looked like the game slowed down
some for him. It’s easy to forget that Love had only played two preseason games
and one regular season game coming into this year. With the three preseason
games this year, he essentially doubled his live NFL game experience. Although Love
needs to continue to improve, I believe he has shown he is at least a capable
back up at this point and is still working towards his ceiling. Hopefully we
don’t see Love start another game until the 2023 preseason, but if he does have
to start again like last year, he’s in a much better spot. Lastly, the “incapable
of Love” crowd will tell you that Danny Etling should be the back-up, you can safely
ignore those people.
2. Amari Rodgers makes case for RB3 role
The third running back competition
continued to evolve, and a new possibility emerged Thursday night. Tyler Goodson got the
start and showed his homerun ability with a 24-yard touchdown run, but on his 6
other carries, he only had 4 total yards; he also added 5 receptions for 26
yards. Patrick Taylor had a pretty solid night with 7 carries for 34 yards; he
had 2 carries inside of the 5-yard line that he couldn’t punch in and his TD
run on 3rd down called back due to penalty. Taylor also added 2
catches for 10 yards. Overall, I think Goodson probably outplayed Taylor this
preseason, but both have shown to be capable running backs with different skill
sets.
However, Amari Rodgers suddenly working
as a running back has made this competition, and what the Packers do, very
interesting. Rodgers showed that he can run the ball out of the back field with
a really nice run of 11 yards; he also had another carry of 4 lined up as a
traditional running back. Aside from working as a running back, Rodgers has
shown strides as a wide receiver and seems to be the lead return man heading
into the year. Might Rodgers be the next Tyler Ervin?
With the Packers trying to figure
out things at the wide receiver position, the fact that Rodgers showed tonight
that he can play in the backfield may give the Packers the option of only
carrying two running backs on the 53-man roster, carrying an extra wide receiver,
and calling up a running back from the practice squad on a weekly basis. It’s
possible either Goodson or Taylor would be claimed if they don’t make the
initial roster, but I believe there is a really good chance neither of them
gets claimed and the Packers can get one or both of them on the practice squad.
3. Bounce back night for the young wide receivers
Amari Rodgers and Samori Toure had
really good nights, and Romeo Doubs and Juwann Winfree were solid. They all had
a really clean night with no notable drops, which will garner some confidence
heading into the season after the first two preseason games. Toure had the
biggest night, catching 6 passes for 83 yards and a long of 23. Alongside his
work as a running back (three carries for 17 yards), Rodgers added 4 receptions for 39 yards. Doubs only had
one reception of note for 13 yards, but it was in really tight coverage where
he showed good concentration and worked back towards the ball. As for Winfree,
he only had one reception for 7 yards, however, he got open on several occasions
and unfortunately Jordan Love and Winfree just couldn’t connect. Additionally,
Winfree had a tremendous block on a quick out pass to the running back that
went for a nice gain.
With the proven trio of Allen
Lazard, Sammy Watkins, and Randall Cobb ahead of all of these young players,
and Christian Watson waiting to show what he’s made of, the Packers have some tough
choices to make heading into the final roster cuts. With Rodgers showing tonight
that he can play in the backfield, Aaron Rodgers commending Winfree’s
performance early in training camp, and Toure having a solid camp and final
game, I think there’s an argument to be made that the roster carries eight wide receivers
and two running backs on the initial 53-man roster.
4. Special Teams has gotten worse each game, just in time for them to start counting
Special Teams were absolutely
horrific, and the “wefense” as Special Teams coach Rich Bisaccia likes to call them, still needs a lot of work. The returners had four kick
returns for a total of 56 yards, averaging just 14 yards. Tyler Goodson had
a rookie mistake play where he should have just taken a knee after muffing
the catch, but instead he returned it to the 5-yard line. For the one punt return, Ishmael Hyman caught the ball inside the 10-yard line, was immediately stuffed,
and a holding penalty backed the Packers up to the 4-yard line. If the Packers
don’t figure out how to protect and return more efficiently, or just take a
knee, teams will start kicking higher kickoffs just short of the goal line and
the offense will be continually backed up like they were Thursday night.
The return defense was just as bad
if not worse. The Packers allowed eight kick and punt returns for a total of 180 yards.
Kansas City had two kickoff returns for an average of 31 yards and a long of 45
yards. Punt returns averaged a strong 19.6 yards with a long of 35; there
were also punt returns of 20, 17, and 16.
The one bright spot of the game was
punter Pat O’Donnell who had a couple booming punts that went for over 50 net
yards. It’s possible that O’Donnell was outkicking his punt coverage, but the gunners
need to beat their man and make a play to capitalize on these punts.
There are no more preseason games
for the Packers to show they can field a competent Special Teams unit. The only
hope is that more starters will contribute and help shore up this glaring
weakness. If not, opponents will exploit this weakness, and it could very well
cost the team another game this season.
5. Relatively quiet night for the rest of the team during
low-scoring affair
There were some nice plays here and
there by other players, but overall, it was a pretty low-scoring, penalty-filled
sloppy game by both teams.
The inside linebacker position
showed depth again, and Quay Walker had his best game so far with 5 tackles. Walker
allowed a few catches, but he was there immediately after the catch to make a
play on the receiver; he also had a really nice play where he was waiting for
the running back in the hole and made the stop. Isaiah McDuffie started alongside
Walker and had 4 tackles during his short playing time for the night. Krys
Barnes had a few nice tackles and batted down a pass on third down.
The defensive
line had an okay night with Jack Heflin making a couple big splash plays, one being a 4th and 1 run stuff. The defensive didn’t end up with any
sacks, but they only gave up an average of 3.8 yards a carry, and besides one
big blown coverage, the secondary had a solid night. Micah Abernathy added
another 6 tackles tonight, nearly made a ridiculous interception on the goal line, and has made a strong case for the practice squad at
minimum during his two preseason games.
The
starting offensive line had some trouble creating holes and giving up pressure to
start the game, but they settled down after the first few drives. The one sack
that the starters gave up was more on Jordan Love as he had Tyler Davis open on
the check down but he tried to pull it down and run instead. Josh Myers absolutely stole a Chiefs linebacker's soul on the long Tyler Goodson touchdown run, and the Packers as a team averaged 4.5 yards per carry on the night. Hopefully Elgton Jenkins
and David Bahktiari are back week 1 against the Vikings, but if not, the current
offensive line has shown this preseason that they can at least be serviceable until they
return.
All stats in this post were source from ESPN.
Be sure to tune into the Wisco Fanatics show Friday nights for coverage of every game during the 2022 Green Bay Packers season.
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