Post Game: Packers Defeat NE Preseason Game 1

I didn't think Starks was awful. Initially he did his normal routine of not waiting for his blockers to set up, but he had a couple of good runs & run and catches. I thought Harris did well. Didn't see much of Crocett.

Liked what I saw in Gunter and Montgomery. So far Montgomery does not appear to be intimidated catching punts. I don't like the way he holds to ball in his hand. He's asking for it to get stripped.

Gunter showed that he came to play.

Rollins played well.

Hayward did not.

Raji got some push but our run defence is still Not good.

Bakhtari totally blew his assignment on one play.

I was surprised to see the 1st team play as long as they did. But it showed that they still have a lot of work to do. I had to keep reminding myself that it was pre-season and they the schemes are very vanilla.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Ryan playing as well as he did.... there hasn't been much said about him during practice.

Looking forward to seeing the guys improve with the next game.

BTW, did we have any injuries? I saw Hubbard go out but he came back in later.
 
Good:
- Montgomery - looks like another WR find for the Pack. Also fielded all his punt return attempts cleanly. One that he let hit seems like it should have been fielded.
- Harris and Crockett - both played well enough that this is now a 3-man race for the 3rd RB spot. They may even push Starks.
- Perillo - hopefully the concussion doesn't set him back. He could be the #3 guy.
- Tolzien - wasn't bad last year, but just looks much more at ease. Not the same happy-feet and panic in the pocket. Made solid throws, seems more on balance with better footwork. Seemed to anticipate the throws that needed to be made that extra half-second or so earlier than before.
- Gunter and Rollins - both looked solid. Looking forward to seeing those 2 and Randall in the next 3 games. Looks like those will be the 3 CBs after Shields and Hayward.
- Elliott - what a mixed bag, but you can't coach that burst off the edge though. He needs to do a better job of limiting the mistakes. If he does, he has some value as a pass rush specialist.

Bad:
- Masthay - not horrible, but not good. Need to see more from him.
- BahkT - ugh, a few bad plays took away from an otherwise solid game by the rest of the line.
- Vujnovich - not as bad as Barclay, but not good either. Can't count on him in a regular season game I don't think.
- Thornton - he looked a little better than last summer, but just not nearly good enough. Looking like a waste of a 3rd Rd pick.

Ugly:
- Barclay - whew, that was baaaad. Looks totally rusty. Hope that rust gets polished away quickly because Vujnovich isn't the answer and I'm not sure anyone else is either. Decent options at the inside spots, nothing at OT right now beyond the starters.
- 55 yard run - okay, isn't one guy, but talk about multiple blown assignments. HaHa caught inside being too aggressive. Poor job by the OLB setting the edge. Looked like someone on DL got pushed back to the point where it created a logjam so no ability of ILBs to flow outside.
- Red Zone offense. Looks like another year of "long" scores and "short" field goals.
 
Just keep in mind this is the first pre-season game.. This is everyones baseline. As of now it doesn't really matter what they did in TC up to this point or what they did last night. It matters how much they grow and improve between now and final cuts.
 
Adams started off nicely on the first drive but he had TWO endzone opportunities, 1 ISO that didn't work out, and one more on the 2nd drive where he was on the ground falling but Rodgers but it in the breadbasket. If he wants to move up to the next level he's got to make that second one.

Redzone play sucked as usual. Short yardage was blaah.

One gorgeous looking screen with Starks, Rodgers faked left then tossed it back right with the blocks just lined up, it was quite pretty and very effective. Would love to see that more in the regular season. Starks had some nice check down and runs, he seemed decent in space.

Bakteria almost got Rodgers killed.

I liked them going for it every 4th down, it is preseason afterall. Quarless had a nice 4th down catch for a first. He beat the LB who began tripping over himself trying to keep up with Quarless, so that was nice.

The huge run to begin the 2nd quarter was horrific. Nate Palmer #51 getting knocked over, Mulumba getting pancaked, Haha and Barrington with horrible angles. Raji and Boyd and Pennel were at the line, it went to Pennel's side and he was stonewalled and didn't eat up any extra guys, allowing the LBs to get destroyed. Ugly play. Our LB's were doing their best Brad Jones impersonations falling down while feebly stretching out their hand.

First pre season game so always room for improvement. Let's see how we fair vs the Steelers next week.
 
Couple things I noticed

Gunter had a good game. I've read good things about him in practice and it showed on the field. He had one bad play, he and Bradford whiffed on a tackle. Maybe Bradford took him out of the play - I'll have to rewatch. His coverage was very good.

Rollins - Two almost INTs. Gotta hang on to them Rookie, but his coverage was pretty good. I saw him get grabby a couple times, so he better watch that.

Raji - Looked like a damn wrecking ball at times.

Jake Ryan - Played great. TFL and a sack I think

Elliot - His motor never stops. Loved watching him last night.
 
It really wasn't fair trotting Lacy out there to start. These guys don't tackle in practice really, it's the first pre-season game and your first test of real tackling is him? Unfair.

NE is a well coached team, and our backups did OK against them. Game doesn't count in the standings but there were some performances last night that warranted those players receiving more 1st team or 2nd team reps, so you can't say the games don't matter. Really liked what I saw from:

Ryan - played slippery and showed good instinct and made good reads. I'd give him some reps with the 1's.
Elliot - guy flies around the edge, if he can convert speed to power on some of those moves he's going to get sacks
Rollins - great job playing the ball, really good vision. made one excellent low tackle that was the kind of thing missing from our secondary for a long time. guy can play
Gunter - was beat a few times but also showed had a nice INT
Myles White - put himself in good position for a number of passes with his route running but couldn't hang on to a few passes
Janis - left Logan Ryan - expected to start at CB for NE - in his dust for a TD and had one other catch, but has been quiet all camp. Not sure how you pick between those guys if you have to.
Hundley - I had extremely low expectations but he was poised and looked competent. Yes it was against the bottom of the roster but we've had recent backups who couldn't do squat against the bottom of a roster so it was a pleasant surprise.
Ty Montgomery - much bigger guy than I thought. as versatile as advertised. looks like a good pick.

Finally, my kingdom for a TE who can sustain a block for 2 seconds! csr(
 
Fun game last night. Always good to get a win even with it being the preseason. The new pat rules sure made it interesting. Will be interesting to see if going for two is going to be that much of a thing once the regular season starts.

Things I liked:
- Packers offense. Really moved the ball well
-Montgomery as a receiver looks like he could be pretty good
-The young cornerbacks, Gunter and Rollins, played a pretty good game. And Rollins in particular looks to have a good nose for the ball.
-The defense in general I thought played fairly well, outside of the pats td.

Things I didn't like:
-Packers redzone and 2pt offense. Too much bogging down in the redzone, gotta punch those in.
-Quite a few drops
-McCarthys beard
- preseason game graphics and coverage. Whenever I was looking for down and distance it wasn't on the screen. Not enough replays. Complete missing of things like penaltys. Regular season football cant come soon enough.
 
Few quick impressions from last night.

Rollins, Gunther were impressive.
Tolzien looks very comfortable in the system.
Brett Huntley looked pretty good for a rookie QB learning a new system
#3 RB should be a good battle. Harris, Neal & Crockett all had their moments.
#1 offense not being able to score TD in the red zone is a concern. Had that problem last year. Need to get that fixed!
Don Barclay has a way to go on his rehab. He looked terribly slow.
Packers depth showed. Back-ups completely outplayed NE back-ups.
Janis will block a punt before pre-season is over. Almost got 2 yesterday. Could be main reason he sticks!
Abby better be lights out when he hits the field. WR talent looks real good. Gonna be tough for him to make the team!

Thank God football is back. Watching the Brewers is killing me!
 
There are still a few kinks to iron out, but the Packers feel like they got off to a good start.

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