After an eventful off-season, Packers football is back! Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers played their first preseason game against the Cleveland Browns on Saturday and looked good. Earlier this week, Matt LaFleur mentioned that Love and the starters would play in this preseason game, and play they did.
But that wasn’t the only thing that Packers fans were chomping at the bit to see heading into this game. Here are some of those questions: How much would the starters play? What will the offensive line starting line look like? How well will the Packers rookies do? What will Jeff Hafley’s defense look like? And many more.
We got some of the answers to these questions.
Packers Offense
Jordan Love and the starters did indeed start the game. Love was on the field for three plays and that’s all he needed in this one. Josh Jacobs started the first drive with a hard run for a gain of seven yards which was great to see! Two plays later, out of shotgun, Love found Dontayvion Wicks down the right sideline for a 65-yard bomb and the touchdown!
Love was done for the day after that! A different kinda three-and-out, I guess you could say.
After that, Sean Clifford took over. The second-string offense didn’t do much with the ball in the next two possessions with their first possession ending with a turnover on downs when AJ Dillon couldn’t get one yard on three straight attempts. Their next possession was stalled by a penalty false start that they couldn’t overcome.
The backups’ next attempts did go much better. Emmanuel Wilson and Grant DuBose took over for the Packers! By the end of the first half, Wilson had seven carries for 36 yards and a touchdown, while Dubose had four catches for 54 yards and also drew an defensive penalty. In these two drives, the Packers scored ten points.
Additionally, the offense put up six more points throughout the rest of the game and could have put up more but decided to let the clock run out to end the game.
Packers Defense
The Jeff Hafley coached defense played a mostly vanilla type defense. However, with that being said, the players aggressively attacked all game long and played fast. The Packers defense held the Browns offense to just three points until the Browns finally scored their first touchdown with only five minutes remaining in the game.
Green Bay had three total sacks and constantly made the opposing quarterbacks feel pressured. Colby Wooden had a tackle for a loss and sack thanks to Lukas Van Ness. Spencer Waege also created havoc by creating a ton of pressure and found himself with a sack. And finally, Lukas Van Ness, aka LVN aka Hercules, also had a great day with a sack and racking up three tackles for losses.
Finally, the defensive backs were definitely playing more aggressively and were constantly rallying to help make tackles on the ball carriers. The safety room in particular is already looking night and day better this season. Evan Williams made a standout play when he forced a fumble on a screen play by the Browns.
Top Offensive Player Performance
My top offensive player for this game came down to three players: Emmanuel Wilson, Grant DuBose, and Caleb Jones. Caleb Jones was moving men effortlessly where ever he would play on the line and Emmanuel Wilson looked good in finding his running lanes and looking explosive. However, I didn’t choose Wilson or Jones. Wilson was close but he didn’t really do much more than just run the ball. He didn’t even have a single target in the passing game.
So, with that being said, my offensive player of the game is Grant DuBose. Last season, he didn’t make the final 53-man roster. This season, he is making a great case for that not to happen. He had five total catches on six targets for 66 yards. He also drew a defensive holding call that gave Green Bay a first down. One of those catches was a sick toe-drag-swag sideline catch.
Top Defensive Player Performance
My top defensive player of the game came down to two players: Evan Williams and Lukas Van Ness. Lukas Van Ness, as mentioned earlier, had three tackles for a loss and a sack. However, for me, the defensive player of the game has to be Evan Williams. He was all over the field, playing extremely aggressive and aware. He had five total tackles and a force fumble that ultimately led to three points.
Injury Updates
Green Bay had three of their rookies miss the game with injuries. Morgan, Cooper, and Hopper. During the game, Marshawn Lloyd aggravated his already somewhat hurt hamstring. Hamstring injuries are nothing new to the Packers but this is getting ridiculous. At the end of the game, coach LaFleur said this about Lloyd’s injury, “[H]e’s going to have to get healthy. We’ve seen what he’s capable of doing in practice but you’d just like to see it in a real game.”
Lloyd also spoke on the injury saying he been working through a hamstring injury during camp. He went on to say, “I’ve had hamstrings before, so I’ll just rehab and get back as fast as I can.”
Final Thoughts and Looking Ahead
Overall, this was a great preseason performance for Green Bay (other than the Lloyd injury). The first team offense had minimum reps but also were successful. The defense was looking great. Also, something I haven’t mentioned yet, the special teams looked good too. Anders Carlson made an extra point and two additional field goals while Greg Joseph made an extra point and a field goal. There were no missed field goals, although Carlson’s looked like they were going for that upright.
Next week, the Packers will be heading to Denver and even will have a joint practice with the Broncos. Coach Matt LaFleur already said that he doesn’t anticipate the starters playing in that game because they should get enough reps in the joint practice.
With there being only three preseason games, every one of these games are just that much more important for players looking to make a roster or practice squad. I can only guess how things will turnout but I do know that I’m excited to see the end result when the Packers head to Brazil.
And of course,
Go Pack Go!
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Damon is a diehard, fully-immersed cheesehead who currently lives in southern Missouri. He teaches at a local high school and has a family YouTube channel about all things Packers. You can follow him on twitter at @packersfamily and on YouTube at The Packers Family.
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