After a disappointing performance during Friday’s joint practice, the Green Bay Packers rested 31 players and then got blown out by the Denver Broncos in Sunday’s preseason clash at EmPower Field at Mile High. Rookie quarterback Bo Nix led a pair of scoring drives and the Broncos took a 17-0 lead into halftime, and a ghastly performance on offense for the Packers ended in a 27-2 defeat.
Here are a few things we learned (or didn’t learn) during Sunday’s loss to the Broncos:
We didn’t learn much
Let’s start this out with what wasn’t learned. The backup quarterback competition gained no clarity. Jordan Morgan didn’t play, so the battle at right guard didn’t play out fully. The kickers attempted one kick and missed it. The receivers fighting for a roster spot felt the pains of struggling quarterbacks and pass protection. None of the backup offensive tackles took a step forward. Neither Eric Stokes nor Carrington Valentine played, so nothing happened there. Overall, the Packers sat 31 players — the vast majority of whom will determine the success of the team’s season — and the backups got beaten on early by the Broncos starters. Mixing little movement on position battles with few bright spots from the backups produced a rough evening.
Backup QBs rattle confidence
Matt LaFleur didn’t think Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt got much help around them, but neither backup quarterback played well Sunday night, muddying the picture behind Jordan Love. Clifford fumbled a snap, completed only six passes and threw a bad interception while failing to lead the Packers to a scoring drive on four possessions. Pratt lost a fumble on a sack, produced only 52 passing yards on 16 attempts and failed to lead a scoring drive on eight chances. Clifford has struggled for much of the summer, and Pratt is a seventh-round rookie facing his own difficult learning curve in Year 1. Can LaFleur trust either one to be QB2 entering the regular season?
Zero movement on the kicking competition
The Packers needed kicking opportunities but ended up attempting just one field goal or extra point. And the one chance ended in disaster: veteran Greg Joseph sailed a 47-yard attempt wide right. Over the last week or so, the Packers’ kicking competition has gone from good to downright concerning. With both Joseph and Anders Carlson hovering around 80 percent on training camp and preseason kicks, it’s increasingly possible the Packers’ Week 1 kicker isn’t on the roster.
Backup offensive tackles struggle
Pencil in Andre Dillard on the Packers’ 53-man roster. He’s making the team because no other offensive tackle behind the two starters has made a move. In fact, Sunday’s night defeat exposed the concerning lack of depth at the premium offensive line position. Kadeem Telfort, Caleb Jones and Travis Glover all gave up multiple pressures and struggled to get movement in the run game. First-round pick Jordan Morgan, who is being focused at right guard, didn’t play on Sunday night. It’s possible the Packers will have to start giving him practice reps at offensive tackle in an effort to safeguard the position in 2024.
Newman experience must end
Enough is enough. Royce Newman, now in Year 4, can’t make the 53-man roster. The former starter was on the field into the fourth quarter, and his down-to-down inconsistency must madden the coaching staff. On one sack in the first half, Newman got beat clean. Later, he failed to get any push on a fourth down run play. It’s time to move on. The Packers are cross-training Sean Rhyan and Jacob Monk at multiple interior line positions, and Jordan Morgan can and will play guard.
Receiver competition fizzles
The Packers’ passing game struggled from start to finish, so clarity on the position battle at receiver might have to wait. Malik Heath caught three passes for 22 yards, and at least two deep balls targeted to him down the field just barely failed to connect. Bo Melton caught only two passes for 10 yards. Grant DuBose didn’t catch either of his targets — one was dropped, and the other was a fastball thrown well behind him by Michael Pratt on fourth down. DuBose helped his cause late with a solo tackle covering a punt.
Intriguing battle at DE
It’d be easy to pencil in Brenton Cox Jr. as the Packers’ fifth defensive end, but don’t count out Arron Mosby. While Cox had a sack and at least two other pressures, Mosby also continued his playmaking summer. He drew a penalty and then had the pressure that helped create Kristian Welch’s interception in the second half. Ideally, the Packers would be able to keep one of Cox or Mosby and keep the other on the practice squad.
Rough night for Kalen King
The seventh-round pick had a couple of big negative plays. On the first, he missed an open-field tackle and allowed the Broncos to convert a 3rd-and-17 on a completion well short of the sticks. Later, he was one of the defenders who failed to make a tackle on Jarrett Stidham’s rumbling touchdown run, and he got beat in coverage from the slot on another third-down conversion. Consider King squarely on the roster bubble entering the final preseason week.
