First Impressions from the Packers preseason game vs. the Seattle Seahawks.
This thought scares me: Breno Giacomini has looked good against one defense so far – the Packer’s own.
Mason Crosby: Do it when it means something and I’ll lead the “Mason Crosby no longer sucks” parade.
Fo those just getting on the Jermichael Finley “go-to guy” bandwagon (like Pete Dougherty writes about ). A reminder where you folks heard it first…
Sam Shields will be a better corner than Jarret Bush. He will need time (at least a year) to develop and learn his assignments, but from a talent perspective, Shields is better.
Matt Flynn can be effective if he’s kept to the types of passes he can throw. Just not enough arm strength. I will say, he has shown some toughness and leadership abilities the last 2 games…
Jarret Bush is always the first one down the field on kickoffs and punts, and the first one to do nothing while he’s there.
Dom Capers will have to devise a hell of a lot of stunts to get Poppinga or Chillar to the QB because they can’t do it by beating blockers one-on-one.
Why has Charles Dillon, who has turned some heads in camp, not been given a shot at returning kickoffs? In college, he returned 30 kickoffs for a very good 28.3 yd. average.
Before everyone gets too down on Underwood, remember, he is a dime back once Al Harris returns. He will continue to develop, but he’s not exactly ready to step into Woodson’s shoes, as he was asked to in this game.
I’m hoping Chris Bryan wins the punting competition. Mathsay takes too long to get a kick off and I worry about mental toughness with him. No such worries with the Aussie football playing Bryan.
Bryan Bulaga had a tougher test this week, and I believe he passed. More on this after I re-watch the game…
Nick Collins beat again for a back of end zone TD, but how much can you ask of your DBs when the QB has 6 seconds to hold the ball. (BTW, I’m just guessing at the time. Will confirm when I study the film)
Chastin West is not a speed burner, but he has some moves and catches what’s thrown to him. I think he’s a good practice squad candidate.
Do we believe the Brandon Jackson we saw last night or temper enthusiasm because he had most success against 2nd and 3rd teamers?
I hope that Quinn Porter was hampered by an injury during the game. Otherwise, he had a disappointing performance.
Anyone else notice Mike Neal being blocked by three players on a few plays? If he can learn some technique, he’ll be something else in a year or two.
I don’t know why Frank Zombo looks small to me when he’s out there. He”s 6’3′, 254lbs.
I’ve always liked Leon Washington. Alex from Packers Lounge was correctly calling for the Packers to get him this offseason. Seattle picked him up for a 5th round draft pick. Would you trade Marshall Newhouse for him right now? I thought so…
Mike McCarthy seems a little more ornery this year – and I like it.
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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.
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“Do we believe the Brandon Jackson we saw last night or temper enthusiasm because he had most success against 2nd and 3rd teamers?”
Not true, Al. Not true. He was playing as soon as the first quarter, and the Seattle 1st string D played the entire first half. I agree that he looked THE BEST in the second, but, with our 2nd string OL (2nd quarter), against their 1st string D, he looked VERY good.
I agree with the rest. Will wait till you re-watch it closely.
One play really caught my attention: When Barbre (he needs a nickname, to complement Breno “Stone” Giacomini) was beat, Bulaga quickly recognize it, and slid to the inside very quickly to try to contain the rusher. It was too late, but that’s elite play right there. Please pay attention to that when re-watching, and tell me if I was right.
RS, Well, I’m watching right now. As far as I can see, he didn’t play on offense until the second unit came in with Flynn. That was with 12 min left in the 2nd quarter. I can’t say if Seattle still had their first team D in, I just focus on the Packers. And my point WAS, that he accomplished the most later in the game, when certainly the Seattle scrubs were in.
I noticed the play with Barbre and Bulaga also. My initial thought was that Bulaga recognized what was happening, but Barbre got beaten so quickly, there was no time for Bulage to help. Had Barbre sloed his man down even a little, Bulaga might have been able to pick him up.
Barbre play didn’y go exactly as I thought, but it does show some great awareness by Bulaga. I’m going to write about it in my upcoming Film Study article…
Got this preseason is going to suck when we have to cut some of the good ones. Then the next thing you know the Vikings will pick them up, because their management always takes our scraps.
I want to keep Zombo, Shields and Porter at least. Dillon as well, but Swain was ok.
Well, that’s what you want. You want to have tough decisions at cut time, But I know what you mean.
This season though, it feels like these guys are really playing their butts though. To make this worse, this roster is already loaded. Normally I’ve seen one guy, but man this is going to be nuts, because even the ones who get the PS treatment would be decent bench players on another team.
I think Martin is one that needs to go!! Come on man!! Ejected from a preseason game?!
And he does it right in front of the referee…
What was Derrick Martin thinking? I didn’t see exactly what happened but it looked like he was punching the Seattle player in the gut…. is this guy gonna be Johnny Jolly mark 2?!
Anyway, key points for me were:
1. Bulaga will start, for a rookie he’s got a ton of aggressiveness and awareness.
2. Giacomini experiment = fail. The guy can’t play low and gets beat by speed very easily (against 2nd string players).
3. Sam Shields deserves a roster spot, just make him a gunner and not a return man.
4. Alan Barbre had his chance and blew it. AGAIN.
5. 2 running backs, 3 full backs. Would rather have Quinn Johnson over Quinn Porter or Lumpkin.
6. Brandon Chillar is a WAY off being an effective pass rusher (get me Brad Jones!)
7. Matt Flynn is a way off being a reliable safety net if Rodgers goes down (though he’ll get there).
8. Brandon Underwood needs much more time, and we need Harris back.
9. Will Blackmon is no Safety but our return game will get much better.
With you on every one except maybe #5. With how often running backs get injured, going with only 2 is risky. Even with Kuhn as an emergency #3.
I’ve watched a little of Brohm this preseason and Flynn is clearly superior. I don’t trust Brohm past 10 yards. Though, Flynn is not a bona-fide starter, he can make the throws needs to keep defenses honest. He seemed more decisive this week. Hoping to see him more with the no. 1s. His play noticeably declined as they got father down on the depth chart later in the game.
I would have liked to see Flynn run the 2-minute at the end of the first. Despite poor clock mgmt at the end, I was slightly impressed with that drive– especially the first down past to Nelson from the 1. Also had a key, tight pass to Quarless around the 50.
No doubt I’d take Flynn over Brohm, just as the Packers did. Flynn had some good moments, but I doubt if he’s ever going to really impress me.
When you’re confirming that the opposing QB had six seconds to hold the ball please make sure you’re not watching the play in slow motion. Just kidding, of course.
Good observations. I also had the same thought about Zombo. He looks small out there but he did manage a sack.
Good one, Bernie. Actually it was 4.7 seconds, which is still a long time.
Can’t put my finger on what it is with Zombo. I will say that he has improved every week.
I hope Kregg Lumpkin’s injury isn’t serious. I would rather see him stick as our No. 3. He’s a big, powerful back who hits the hole hard. Nothing against Quinn Porter, but between the (uninjured) two, I’d take Lumpkin.
Well, that’s what I’ve liked about Lumpkin, but he hasn’t really progressed enough. Porter gives them a different dimension at running back, but needs to be a ST contributor to stick. It’s a tough choice.
Last night was like a rewind of last year’s worst. Barbre got smoked. Poppinga got a special teams penalty. Jarrett Bush was….well, Jarrett Bush. Kickoff coverage sucked. We have seen this all before. They had all offseason to fix this stuff, but whatever they tried…it ain’t workin’. It’s not a lost cause yet, but it is very disappointing that all these different things came up in a single game.
Back to Bush. He may be faster, smarter, stronger, bigger, and better than Shields (or some other D-back fighting for a roster spot, for that matter). But is Bush EVER in the right place at the right time? NO! I’m sorry, but when you’re a marginal talent, that fact should carry some weight. Shields was in the right place for an easy INT last night, as well as in the scrimmage. I’ll take good luck over Bush any day.
I watched Shields at DB last night when I re-watched the game. He was pretty solid in coverage. there was only one play I could see where he had bad coverage, and that was on the slant to Deion Butler. Other wise, his coverage was good and he didn’t blow any assignments. And one thing for sure, if a receiver manages to gert a step on him going deep, Shields WILL catch up.
I haven’t rewatched the game yet but I am still confused at putting Shields on kick return duties. He just can’t do it…so move on. He still can be a very effective Special Teams guy, he looked really good as a gunner IMO. A lot of upside which is something you can’t say about Bush.
I think they rushed Shields in the return dept by putting him at PR. Pretty tough when you’ve never done it. I wish they would have tried him ONLY at KR the first 2 games. See if he gets a comfort level. Instead they threw him into the fire. Blackmon is going to be the PR, so it really wasn’t necessary.
He has no awareness. Even in KR, if they kick it short, he’ll muff the kick 8/10.
I wish he was the gunner, and not Bush, though.
I think he will be…