Paul Bretl | 8/18/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers just wrapped up their second preseason game against the Denver Broncos, and overall, it wasn’t a pretty performance, but the good thing is that this time of the year the scoreboard doesn’t matter.
“That was a long night,” said Matt LaFleur post-game. “Certainly, I think I was hoping our guys would come out with more strain, effort, grit after kinda getting humbled the other day in practice. And then to have it happen again (is) not where you want to be.
“I think it’s a good lesson for our guys in terms of, it doesn’t matter who’s out there. If you don’t put your best foot forward each and every time you go out on that field, these things happen to you. We’re going to have to regroup, take a long, hard look in the mirror. We’ve got to get better. We need that urgency from everybody.”
With the game having just wrapped up, as always, here are my instant takeaways from what we saw take place on the football field.
Before getting to lineup notes, let’s start with the poor play from the Packers. As Matt LaFleur said, the starters were not going to play in this game. The Broncos, however, did play their starters for a good portion of the first half and you could see that difference. While that was certainly a factor in what we saw, the Packers did get some “premiere” looks but were unable to take advantage–“busting a lot of the simple things,” as LaFleur put it. Do you hope that the players–regardless of what unit they’re with–can take advantage of those looks? Of course. But don’t fret either–the Packers were without just about every one of their starters.
“Bottom line, it wasn’t good enough,” said LaFleur at halftime. “We had a lot of busts all across the board. We had some premier plays. We throw a pick against a premier look, we’ve got to do a better job in the second half.”
Who was in and who was out? Without the starters, there were 31 players who didn’t suit up. I, of course, am not going to list every one of those players as most are what you’d expect. You can click here for the full list. Of note, AJ Dillon was among those not playing and neither was Jordan Morgan, who returned to individual drills at practice this week, but as of Wednesday, was unsure if he’d start in this game. Ty’Ron Hopper and Tyler Davis made their preseason debuts.
“I mean, to get that last game, that last preseason game, it’s going to mean a lot,” said Morgan on Wednesday. “I mean everybody’s two games in. I’ve got to hone in, I’ve got to lock in and do everything to the best of my ability.”
What does this mean for AJ Dillon? Well, if Dillon–who has been the backup running back in camp–was sitting with the starters because the Packers didn’t think he needed the reps, then you can put him on your 53-man roster. A player competing for a roster spot isn’t getting a preseason game off. We do not know if Dillon was dealing with any sort of injury. He did participate in Friday’s joint practice.
As I’ve written about before, Dillon may not have the juice Emanuel Wilson does, but he’s a reliable pass-blocker, pass-catcher, and can help on teams. With players like Josh Jacobs and MarShawn Lloyd, pass-blocking and teams are going to be where Dillon and Wilson earn playing time. Pass-pro and teams contributions are where Wilson is continuing to develop and is improving. He had a few solid pass pro reps in this game.
“We’re still working on that part of it,” said running backs coach Ben Sirmans last week when asked about Wilson being a three-down back. “He has shown whether it’s 1-on-1s that when he does attack things with the proper technique that he can block people, and I think the other thing besides that is he’s shown whether it’s a walkthrough or different phases we’ve put him in where we’ve brought pressure that he’s much more I guess educated at what his assignment is and making really good decisions.
“So I think that’s something that we’re working towards, but we’ve just got to continue to put him in those situations to get a full answer on that. but my trust level is growing with him.”
A few lineup notes: On defense, it was Eric Wilson and Hopper at linebacker with Ralen Goforth the Sam backer when the defense was in base. Javon Bullard started in the slot and moved to safety for Anthony Johnson when lined up in the 4-3. The starting boundary cornerbacks were Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell. Kalen King took over in the nickel once Bullard was done for the day, which was pretty quickly.
What about the offensive line? Andre Dillard was at left tackle, followed by Royce Newman, Sean Rhyan, Jacob Monk, and Kadeem Telfort. As the first half went on, Travis Glover took over at right tackle for Telfort, who then moved to left tackle for Dillard. Just this week, we saw Glover get some snaps with the twos over Caleb Jones. For what it’s worth, out of these three tackles, Dillard played the fewest snaps. Royce Newman would play the entire game at both guard spots and took some lumps.
Overall, a rough showing for the Packers’ offensive line units. Glover seemed to really struggle. Telfort took some lumps and the run game had nowhere to go. Depth has often been a strength for the Packers in the trenches, but there are some unknowns this year, particularly at tackle.
“But all in all, offensively, just want to see more fight from our guys,” LaFleur said. “That was frustrating, just the lack of ability to move the football, both in the running game and in the passing game. We’ve definitely just got to re-evaluate and take a long, hard look at everybody.”
It was a rough outing for Clifford, who did have to face the Broncos starters. I recently took a look at the Packers’ backup quarterback battle, and when discussing what I’ve seen from Clifford in practices, when he throws an interception, oftentimes the timing is off–which isn’t uncommon for quarterbacks–and disrupts his rhythm. Or he’s just trying to do too much. With the offensive line struggling, Clifford was rarely able to find a rhythm. A good example of when he did was on that out route to Malik Heath when the offense was backed up.
Then on the interception, that was a throw that never should have been made and seemed desperate at the end of the half. Last summer, Clifford was able to bounce back from the negative plays with a big one, but that hasn’t happened this year.
“Definitely humbled today,” said Clifford. “Just did not make plays when they were there, just a lot of opportunities missed today. (I’ve) got to be better. I pride myself on making those plays, especially in critical moments, third downs, and just wasn’t able to convert. So lots to work on.”
Michael Pratt wasn’t all that better, although he didn’t turn the ball over. There were instances were he was able to find a rhythm and build some momentum, but overall, Pratt was inaccurate and it looked like things were moving a bit quickly for him. While he has certainly made strides, whether it’s LaFleur, Adam Stenvaich, or Tom Clements who is asked about Pratt, they all mention that the learning curve he is navigating right now is quite steep.
“I think kinda the production kinda speaks for it, but I think it wasn’t just on them,” said LaFleur on the play of Clifford and Pratt. “It’s everybody. It’s all 11. We’ve got to block better up front, we’ve got to finish runs better, we had a couple drops. So I think it’s just collectively all 11 have got to be better in order for us to have any success offensively.”
The disjointed passing game didn’t really give us much of a look at Bo Melton, Grant DuBose, or Malik Heath, all of whom played a large portion of the game–not to mention that Heath and DuBose may be battling for just one roster spot. DuBose did have a nice open-field tackle as a flyer on the punt coverage team. Special teams will play a factor in determining who gets this roster spot.
The Packers’ pass rush really picked up in the second half and played a key role in limiting the Denver offense. Brenton Cox and Arron Mosby each had some quality pass rush reps. Of course, at this stage it wasn’t the starters they were facing, but even early on, I thought the defensive front was able to get some push, but Bo Nix did handle it well, to his credit.
“I thought there was more resiliency and fight in the second half, especially defensively there were some good moments,” said LaFleur. “Certainly getting that interception, a safety, there was a couple I want to say three-and-outs. I think the defense was in some tough situations with some of those sudden changes, where the field position was flipped and we were backed up.”
Speaking of the pass rush, Jonathan Ford looks much more explosive this year. In a crowded defensive line room, I’m still not sure a roster spot is there for him, but he’s looked good this summer.
After the draft, GM Brian Gutekunst used the phrase “stopping power” to describe Hopper’s physicality. That skill set was on display against Denver, with Hopper in on 11 total tackles. There’s still work to be done from a coverage standpoint and operating in space, but that’s not unexpected for an incoming rookie who has missed practice time with an injury. In practices, we’ve seen that same ability to make plays at the line of scrimmage, as a blitzer, and he’s contested some passes in coverage as well. Hopper has played middle linebacker in base and was handling play-calling duties against Denver when Wilson exited the game.
With little scoring, we didn’t get to see the Packers kickers all that much. Greg Joseph would miss right from 47 yards. After it looking like he was gaining an edge over Anders Carlson about two weeks ago, things are relatively equal. Joseph is 51-of-62 in camp an Carlson is 40-of-61.