There was a lot that took place during the Green Bay Packers’ annual Family Night practice, and you can find many of those items in my key observations article. However, I also wanted to dive deeper into some of my most important takeaways.
The Family Night practice is played inside Lambeau Field and provides the players with a game-like feel as they practiced in front of 65,000-plus fans. The practice consisted of one-on-one drills, situational drills such as third downs, red zone situations, and two-minute scenarios, along with special teams reps.
“What an incredible atmosphere,” said Matt LaFleur in his post-practice press conference. “I think that was the most people that I’ve experienced in five years here. You got to give it up for our fans, showing up for us.
“It’s a great experience, a great environment for a lot of our young players. Certainly, to end it offensively, with Jordan (scoring in the two-minute drill), I thought it was a great job.”
Again, there was a lot to choose from, but if I were to put a bow on what I saw, here are my five big things from the Packers’ eighth training camp practice.
Jordan Love settles down after early misses
It was a rocky start for Jordan Love, with him missing some throws early on that you would expect him to make. Two of the early misses were intended for Luke Musgrave, one on a cross route and the other down the seam. Both of which were slight overthrows. Another came on a deep ball to Romeo Doubs, who had a step on Jaire Alexander down the right sideline, but Love overthrew him as well.
However, from that point on, Love settled down and was fairly efficient moving forward. He took what the defense gave him, avoiding any turnovers. There really weren’t even any turnover-worthy plays–he was able to stay away from the big mistake, and hit a few explosive plays.
Love finished the day 11-for-19, with his three of his best throws of the night coming during the final two-minute drill, which began at the offense’s own 20-yard line. The drive began with a fumble on what looked like a poor snap. One play later, Love found Musgrave over the middle on a crossing route for a big 30-yard gain. On the next play, Love found Christian Watson for 20 more yards on a slant with some YAC. Then from just outside the 20-yard line, Love threw a beautiful ball to Watson that was dropped perfectly over his shoulder in the back corner of the end zone, against what was fairly tight coverage by Corey Ballentine.
“I’m sure the adrenaline was pumping quite a bit early on,” said Matt LaFleur. “He missed a couple of throws early on but settled down. I thought he ended it as good as you could of in that two-minute situation.”
Young tight ends perform well
Although the Packers tight end room is loaded with potential, there are a lot of unknowns as well. This is a unit without a truly established NFL player and also one relying heavily on two rookies to contribute heavily at a position where Matt LaFleur called the jump from college to the NFL the second-most difficult after the quarterback. But on Saturday night, we saw the potential this group has to offer.
In the previous section, I highlighted the playmaking that we saw from Musgrave. While Love was only able to connect with him on one of those aforementioned passes, his ability to create mismatches was on full display–there aren’t many defenders who can match his size and speed. Musgrave is going to be targeted heavily this season over the middle and down the seam, just as we saw during the Family Night practice.
Tucker Kraft, meanwhile, had what I thought was his best practice this summer. He threw a few key blocks in the running game and made a red zone reception, showcased his YAC abilities on a dump-off to him, along with making another catch that was highly contested.
Lastly, I do want to also mention Tyler Davis, who continues to hold his own as a blocker, even against some of the Green Bay edge rushers, and filled in at H-back occasionally with Josiah Deguara out.
“I think Tyler has done a lot of great things,” said LaFleur. “He’s made some progress in the pass game as well. Certainly, we all know his value on teams, he’s a core contributor there. He’s really carved out a good role for himself in that situation, but we are probably going to have to rely on him a little bit more on the offensive side of the ball this year.”
Young interior defenders continue to shine
Rookie Karl Brooks has put together a very impressive week of practices. Going back to Monday, he’s been able to make his way into the backfield as a pass rusher a few instances each practice. Brooks’ best play during Family Night came in the two-minute drill against the second-team offense, where he burst into the backfield and had a would-be sack if tackling were taking place. That would have been his second “sack” of the evening.
Also performing well on Saturday was fellow rookie Colby Wooden, who has established himself as the fourth edge rusher in the rotation. The most immediate impact for Wooden and Brooks could come as pass rushers moved up and down the defensive front. But given the inexperience at this position, both will be needed to contribute against the run as well, Wooden more so than Brooks.
“Just from an early glimpse,” said LaFleur afterward, “there were some good things, just being able to get some pressure on the quarterback. Certainly some things in the run game.
“Those are two guys that give us some juice on the defensive line, and they are going to get a lot of minutes, a lot of snaps. It’s going to be a gradual process, but those are two guys we are going to have to count on.”
In addition to those two, Devonte Wyatt’s flashes continue to become much more consistent. His ability to get into the backfield but also how quickly he’s often done it has been impressive. TJ Slaton, along with the interior defensive line as a whole, was able to create a steady push up the middle once again. Throughout training camp, there just haven’t been a lot of running lanes inside. As I’ve written about before, this unit looks much faster this year, and success for the defense as a whole begins with stopping the run.
Anders Carlson bounces back
Anders Carlson entered Saturday’s practice making fewer than 60% of his field goal attempts during training camp, just 16-of-27 to be exact, including going 11-for-22 since last Saturday.
When speaking with reporters on Friday, GM Brian Gutekunst said that there was “no concern” at this time, knowing that there would be highs and lows with an inexperienced kicker. Carlson was then able to backup Gutekunst’s confidence in him with a very impressive performance during Family Night.
Overall, Carlson finished 8-for-9 of the day, with all of his kicks coming between 40 and 53 yards. His one miss came on a 50-yard attempt but was the product of a high snap and shaky hold. Carlson’s highlight came during a two-minute drill, where he made a 52-yard field goal with time running out.
“He did a heck of a job,” said LaFleur after practice. “It was great for him, his first experience in Lambeau, with obviously a lot more pressure than you feel in practice. To kick a 50-some-odd yarder right there at the end. He had an excellent day.
“Any time you get an environment like that, it can’t help but build confidence for him. I was super proud of the poise he showed and the execution. He’s got a big time leg, and I think you guys can see that, and just really, really happy for him.”
After the Packers drafted Carlson back in April, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said that the team really liked his “mental makeup” and his “big game experience,” two things we saw on display in the game-like environment that Family Night offered.
Injury updates
With Rashan Gary and Eric Stokes still on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and Grant DuBose on the non-football injury (NFI) list, all three were still sidelined.
After dropping out of Tuesday’s practice and not participating Thursday, David Bakhtiari was still out on Saturday. In his place at left tackle was Yosh Nijman.
“You guys have seen what his situation has been the last couple of years,” said LaFleur afterward. “It’s just one of those things that we are going to have to be very flexible with. What I love about it is I know he is working really hard. We just have to find ways to get him to Sundays. This could be the case throughout camp, it could be the case throughout the season, just how much load we put on him and how his knee reacts. You just have to be fluid with that situation.”
Also missing from the left side of the offensive line was Elgton Jenkins, who was out with an illness. In his place at left guard was Royce Newman. Josiah Deguara, who dropped out of Tuesday’s practice with a calf injury, was still out. As was Lew Nichols, who took a hard hit during Thursday’s practice.
Tucker Kraft would exit Saturday’s practice early, and while LaFleur didn’t have any news on what happened when meeting with reporters afterward, he did say that Kraft got banged up, but didn’t think it sounded too serious.
