Green Bay Packers vs. San Diego Chargers:
Here is my unfitered game day blog post of comments, observations and first impressions.
Inactive for Packers today:
It’s a long list:
S/CB Charles Woodson, RB Du’ane Bennett, RB Brandon Saine, FB Jon Hoese, CB Sam Shields, TE Eric Lair, OLB Frank Zombo, T Mike McCabe (injured reserve), G Jaymes Brooks (PUP), G Ray Dominguez, T Marshall Newhouse, DT Mike Daniels, T Derek Sherrod, TE Andrew Quarless, TE Ryan Taylor, WR Greg Jennings, WR Tori Gurley and TE Jermichael Finley.
Notes: Shannon Eastin makes history this evening as the first female to ever referee an NFL game. Eastin will be the line judge.
———————————————
Mike McCarthy Pregame Show on 620 WTMJ:
Anxious?: Our players and coaches look forward to the first game, get out of installation mode.
First-string plans: First offense will go 20-25 plays, complete the first quarter. Probably the same for the defense.
Main goal: You want to make sure you come out of this game with information on each and every player.
First NFL game for MM (vs San Diego): I remember it very clearly – it was exciting. Hopefully we’ll compete in tonight’s contest better than we did that particular night. (SD won 17-3)
Overall camp eval: It’s been a good camp. We were able to really have quality practice every single day. I feel like pawsitives have come out of every practice.
Hope for tonight: The thing I’m looking for tonight is to finish every play and play with a lot of energy.
Graham Harrell: Like anyone, he’s competing for a spot on the 53.
Alex Green: Alex will play in the secind quarter. We’ll be smart with the number of plays he plays in.
Herb Taylor: A great opportunity for Herb – we have to be smart and be sure he’s ready and prepared. We’re confident in his ability – this is a big night for him.
———————————————-
Packers vs. Chargers – First Impressions – First Half:
Nick Perry gets his first NFL sack on the second play of the game and then gets called for a ridiculous unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Perry did nothing to warrant that.
House looks like Al Harris out there – and not just because he wears #31 and has dreadlocks. He plays physical bump and run, uses his hands a lot – just like Harris did.
Starks with a dropped pass and a fumble on the Packers’ first series – is it Alex Green time yet?
Nick Perry with another nice bull rush – doesn’t look dynamic yet, but as long as he gets pressure, we can live with it.
Desmond Bishop carried off, then carted to the locker room. Looks like a knee injury and it looks bad.
And Borel fumbles the kickoff – well, at least the defense will get plenty of work…
Herb Taylor can’t handle rookie Melvin Ingram – Rodgers gets hit and throws an INT.
More fumbles and INTs – 6 turnovers total in the first quarter – yuk.
Really don’t get why the Packers held onto Shaky Smithson, he’s not going to win a return job with Cobb around and he’s not a great WR.
At this point in time, Nick Perry looks like a DE , not a linebacker, but he’s playing well – we’ll take that for now and wait patiently…
Davon House with a really good first half of football. Looks like the reports out of camp on him were accurate.
Herb Taylor should be very happy he’s not on twitter. The haters would have a field day…
So far, looks like the Packers secondary tackling is somewhat better, pass coverage still needs plenty of work.
OL on the Packers’ last offensive series was Taylor, Barclay, Dietrich-Smith, Genus & Datko. And people are wondering why Graham Harrell looks a little nervous?
Packers 7, Chargers 7
Packers vs. Chargers – First Impressions – Second Half:
Casey Hayward looks like he has the first game jitters, but I think he’ll be fine by end of preseason. Fast learner, real student of the game…
Where are those people who said Melvin Ingram was too short (with short arms) to be a force in the NFL?
Erik Walden can help this Packers team – he can rush the QB with vigor.
Backup DL playing well. Philip Merling, Daniel Muir, Lawrence Guy have almost been more noticeable than the starters were.
Dale Moss is this year’s Diondre Borel – extremely raw, but what an athlete.
Marc Tyler running hard. Doesn’t look to have particularly good field vision, but he’s certainly the typical PackersNorth/South runner.
Vic So ‘oto, the forgotten man this camp, playing really well. Picks up a sack on his first play and consistently getting pressure with a variety of moves.
I said last night on CheeseheadRadio that BJ Coleman will be a better QB than Matt Flynn – in a few years…
The bottom-of-the-roster receivers have shown nothing (Boyken, Gilleylen).
Game over… Chargers 21 Packers 13
——————
Follow Jersey Al:
Follow @JerseyAlGBP
Add to Circleson
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.
——————
About 5 min after I made a comment that house should not be playing ST in the 3rd qt, he gets hurt. He’s the no1 option for the other starting CB spot, why risk him? TT better sign one of the veteran FA LT that are left on the market, to back up Newhouse
I think all of the injuries played into decisions like that. We also saw Cobb fielding a punt in the 3rd quarter…
It’s the first preseason game, so nothing we saw last night means much (besides the injuries, unfortunately). But if we had to overreact to something, it’d be the fumbles. There’s never a good excuse for clumsy fumbles, even if the games don’t count and it’s early.
Of course, a bunch of fumbles in the first preseason game may be a blessing in disguise. The emphasis on ball security and tackling will be imbued with a harder edge.
Some players are going to be feeling uncomfortable in the film room as their team mates offer ‘friendly’ sarcasm, along with pointed comments by position coaches.
Chance of complacency on this, after last night…………zero.
This early I’m not too concerned, if we play like this in the fourth preseason, I will be.
I’m 100% with you on this. On a really good team, I don’t mind having a real stinker the first preseason game. Wake everyone up and sharpen the focus a bit…
Not sure why anyone on the team (except for CM and AR) needs a wake up call. They are all fighting for their job. If anything, they all would/should be extra careful not to fumble, not to miss a tackle, not to drop a pass, not to get beat. I am concerned. Their focus should be extra sharp now. These aren’t kids playing pee wee. They’ve been threw these situations before, even the rookies.
Last nights game really showed how crucial the left tackle position is. It looked like Ingram played a great game, but I think that he would not have been able to be as disruptive were he playing Newhouse, or (hopefully) Sherrod. I hope we will have those two back soon.
Starks looked like he thought he won the starting job. Well a few more games like that and maybe not so much.
My personal opinion is that Starks simply isn’t as good as many Packers fans think he is.
I don’t think he’s as bad as he looked last night, and I think he fits what the Packers do with the ball, but he’s mostly “just a guy”.
Biggest concern is that everytime I see him play, he looks less decisive, and that’s the exact opposite of what you want from a zone back.
It looks like he’s becoming too mechanical and overprocessing. He’s thinking too much and not just reacting. He’s playing like a guy that’s pressing too much to be ‘the guy’.
Personally, I think splitting carries with Saine or Green would be the best thing to happen to Starks. Less pressure to be ‘the man’ and he can just react/run.
I’m going to start saying, as frequently as possible, without further explanation to random strangers who are watching Packers games, that “Starks is off his game because he has guy problems”. I think it will be hilarious, in an inside-joke-that-only-I’ll-be-privy-to kind of way.
I also completely agree with you.
+ Devon House
+ Taylor, until the fumble
+ Nick Perry with a sack
– Desmond Bishop with a ACL-looking knee bend type of injury
– Starks
– No Defensive Line pressure, zero. Its going to be hard to intercept passes, or having the linebackers sack if these guys cannot push the line back.
No DL pressure? I would disagree with you there. We were watching different games.
Perry, Hayward and Worthy all flashed enough in their one-on-one match-ups to justify their draft position. Solid foundation to work with, I don’t have unrealistic expectations that any rookie will show dominance their first year, but they will make a difference over the course of the year in sub-packages.
I have to re-watch it, but I felt EDS and Genus looked good on the inside. I expected EDS to perform well against the Chargers reserves, but Genus impressed me with some good push in the run game.
Moss has some serious upside. I hope the Packers can sneak him on the PS after he’s cut late in the season.
D.J. Smith just flows to the ball, so instinctive.
Really want to see Levine and MD Jennings progress the next two pre-season games. They can’t repeat the same errors in space.
CSS, Wasn’t focused on the line too much, but his Genus’ number did get my attention a few times for some nice play.
Agree, although I didn’t notice Hayward as much.
On defense, Daniel Muir really impressed me. I didn’t think he do ANYTHING for this team. Very wrong, he looks like a more than viable back up NT.
Side note: How is it that both Muir and Datko can both be number 77?
Anyone that says there should be no concern it is just the first pre-season game is smoking some really good stuff. Looks to me like they are starting right where they left off, the Giants game. There is something very fishy in Denmark fellows…. Lets face it with the talent on this team it would be hard to get them to play this horribly. Sorry MM and TT this is a direct reflection of your shortcomings. Please get your egos in check and suck it up before it is to late. This team is a super bowl caliber team lets not ruin that…..
Any examples of where TT and MM egos need to be held in check?
Just remember Ted and Mike were able to draft and develop young talent, and transition Favre to Rodgers within a year. Two years later we won a Superbowl. Mike knows what he is doing.
Lets just hope they still know what they are doing.
what i liked
+ Nick Perry
+ Jerel Worthy
+ Davon House
+ Randall Cobb
what i didnt like
– James Starks
– Our O-line
– All of our wrs behind cobb
yeah…. thats it
I don’t get the Marc Tyler fascination. He did not impress me at all. I kept on thinking to myself, “Alright, enough already. There’s not much here to look at. Let’s see more Bennet, or how about some Green.”
Consider this game his baseline along with all the other rookies. If you don’t grow (by preseason game 3) you go.
Tyler was predetermining his spot big-time. He’s gone if he show the same tendency by the end of pre-season. He needs to be a short-area quickness, one-cut instinctive runner to make this team. Especially with his lack of straight-line speed.
I didn’t see any burst in him, but I take that, if he’s gonna make the team, it’ll be through special teams, no?
CSS, RS, I think we’re all pretty much on the same page on Tyler’s showing thus far.
RS, I think for him to make the team, making a mark on STs is half of the battle. He’d still have to show he’s of more value at RB than at least one of the other backs in camp right now. I don’t know if he’s even done that.
“Herb Taylor: A great opportunity for Herb – we have to be smart and be sure he’s ready and prepared. We’re confident in his ability – this is a big night for him.”..
We have to be smart and be sure he’s ready and prepared? We’re confident in his ability?….
Ready and prepared were 2 of the last words I was thinking about when I was watching Taylor fail. So Mike, are you still confident in his ability? Exactly where did this confidence come from? Was it because he was cut by 5 different teams?