The Green Bay Packers completed a pair of joint practices with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots on Wednesday and Thursday. The two teams will be back on the field for a preseason game at Lambeau Field on Saturday night.
Packers Wire contributor Paul Bretl was in attendance for practices on Wednesday and Thursday. We asked him a few questions to help break down the Packers’ performance in the two practices. The Q&A is below:
Key observations and takeaways from Packers first joint practice with Patriots
Key observations and takeaways from Packers second joint practice with Patriots
The passing game was solid on Day 1 but struggled on Day 2. Any noticeable difference you saw between the two days?
In part, we need to give credit to the Patriots secondary. They did a really good job of being sticky in coverage, coming away with two interceptions and multiple pass breakups. In short, there wasn’t a lot there for Jordan Love. He still went through his progressions, but with less opportunities, he did force the ball into tight windows at times, not to mention that the overall execution from Love and the offense as a whole was not nearly as crisp, with dropped passes and some missed throws.
I also think the back-to-back practices provided the offense with a valuable and realistic scenario that they’ll see in the regular season. Once this Packers offense puts on film what they are good at and areas they struggle with, week to week defenses are going to make adjustments, and an initial hurdle for any young quarterback is going to be countering those adjustments. Samori Toure said after practice that New England didn’t make any defensive changes from Wednesday to Thursday, but he did say they were more locked in. That added familiarity with the Packers scheme and concepts likely did play a factor in the results we saw on the field, and helped simulate potential challenges the offense may run into during the regular season.
Jordan Love's completion percentage has consistently hovered around the 50 percent range during camp and even dropped below 50 during Thursday's practice. Any concern there?
I wouldn’t say concerned at this time. For sure, there have been throws that he’s missed that should be made, but there have also been dropped passes as well. He’s also a first time starting quarterback going up against a defense with playmakers at cornerback in a time of the year where defenses get off to faster starts, even with an experienced quarterback at the helm, as we saw last summer with Aaron Rodgers. I think we also need to be mindful of to that it is practice, and teams and players are often working on implementing new things, which of course, will results in inconsistency. But in being able to attend most practices so far, I haven’t left with this overwhelming feeling that Love has been very inaccurate. For the most part, he makes the throws he should and has connected on some explosive plays as well.
What's the biggest positive coming out of the joint practices?
My biggest positive was Love’s play during Wednesday’s practice. In a vacuum, the throws we saw him make that day were all plays he’s made throughout training camp—although he was a little more consistent. However, the most promising aspect of that performance was that he did it against a defense that used a number of different personnel looks, disguised coverages very well with late movement, and blitzed often. All these are aspects that I expect not only the Patriots to utilize but really every defense the Packers play because those tactics can very well cause confusion for a young quarterback and lead to poor decisions. But in the midst of that chaos, Love went through his progressions, took what the defense gave him, and created a few big plays as well.
How do you think the Packers stacked up against the Patriots overall?
Overall, I thought the Packers matched up well. I’d give the Patriots the edge because while the Packers won the first day of practice, New England won the second day more convincingly than what Green Bay did on. Day 1. The Patriots provided a very good test for the Packers because of some of the reasons already mentioned, with Love and this young offense going up against a very deceptive and chaos-causing Bill Belichick defense and were able to find some success. This is also a New England offense that likes to run the ball, and we saw that during the two practices, and that is an area where the Packers need to continually be tested this time of the year. Any improvements that the Green Bay defense experiences in 2023 is going begin with being better against the run. Although not always consistently, in both of these areas just mentioned, the Packers were able to find success against New England over the two days.
The line of scrimmage is so important. How did the Packers fare up front on both sides of the ball during the two practices?
On the offensive line, Yosh Nijman was at left tackle the first day with David Bakhtiari out. However, Bakhtiari did return for Thursday’s practice. And as we’ve seen for much of the summer, the rest of the offensive line was made up of Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan, and Zach Tom. I thought this group did well in pass protection. For the most part, Love had the time he needed when going through his progressions. However, as has been the case in training camp, it was tough sledding for the run game between the tackles. In part, without live tackling, it’s tough to tell if those 2-3 yard runs would end up being 5-6, but it’s been rare that we’ve seen the Packers’ running backs rip off some chunk runs. I woulnd’t be hitting the panic button by any means, but it’s worth monitoring.
On the other side of the ball, I thought the defensive front was very good, especially on Wednesday as pass rushers. That first day the Packers defensive front was living in the backfield with Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe dealing with collapsing pockets or pressure all day. I was particularly impressed with the edge rusher group, who from top to bottom of the depth chart, were making plays. Even on Thursday, when this group wasn’t as dominant, there was still a steady push up front from this unit, but to Jones’ credit, he did handle the pressure well. I also think in a live game, the Green Bay defense would have had a few more sacks than what the final numbers from Thursday show. On the ground, New England was able to find success, but the Packers were able to limit the chunk runs.
Any special teams takeaways?
The biggest takeaway was the continued ups and downs for Anders Carlson. The good news is that he began Wednesday going 5-for-5, making an extra point attempt and then his next four kicks from the 40 to 50 yard range. However, in the two-minute drill that day, he would go 0-for-2. Missing both kicks from around the 40 yard mark, one of which was as the clock was winding down and the field goal unit had to rush onto the field. Even with the inconsistency, I fully expect the Packers to go into the season with Carlson as their kicker. Brian Gutekunst made the selection and Rich Bisaccia signed off on the pick. They know there will be growing pains with a rookie kicker, and appear willing the weather them.
At punter, Pat O’Donnell and Daniel Whelan continue to alternate reps, both as holders and as punters. From the sidelines, it’s difficult to tell exactly where this positional battle stands. Whelan packs more power, but O’Donnell’s experience may provide
