After two joint practices early on in the week with New England, Jordan Love made his Lambeau Field debut as the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback against the Patriots.
Here are my instant takeaways from what I saw on the field watching from the press box.
— The game was ended early due to a scary moment where Patriots rookie Isaiah Bolden had to be carted off. It was reported by Tom Curran afterward that Bolden had feeling in all his extremities and was being taken to the local hospital for further tests and observations.
— There were 14 Packers players who did not participate in Saturday’s game, including Kenny Clark, David Bakhtiari, Jaire Alexander, Rashan Gary, Eric Stokes, Luke Tenuta, Tyler Davis, Corey Ballentine, Lew Nichols, Tyler Goodson, Innis Gaines, De’Vondre Campbell, Bo Melton, and Caleb Jones.
— There were four injuries for the Packers that were reported during the game, the first was to fullback Henry Pearson, who exited with a knee injury and the second to safety Tarvarius Moore, who also suffered a knee injury. Dontayvion Wicks exited with a hamstring injury and Jake Hanson a shin injury. This leaves the Packers pretty thin at the fullback/tight end position with Josiah Deguara, Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, and Austin Allen as the only healthy players.
— Without Bakhtiari, the starting offensive line consisted of Rasheed Walker at left tackle, followed by Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan, and Zach Tom. We had seen this combination for most of the week leading up to this game. Yosh Nijman was the right tackle with the second unit. Walker has been playing quite well as of late, and as LaFleur said after the game, they wanted to see how he held up against the New England starters. Perhaps they want Nijman primarily focusing on right tackle right now, although Tom seems to have a firm grasp on that position.
— Jordan Love finished the game going 5-for-8 for 83 yards with one touchdown and a passer rating of 137.0. It was a slow start for Love and the offense as a whole, and included some slightly off target passes. However, Love would make three really impressive throws, and led a 93-yard scoring drive. Just as in practice, the Patriots secondary was able to take away Love’s initial reads, and forcing some throws into tight windows, but he did well going through his progressions and protecting the ball.
— There will be ups and downs as we’ve seen, but this offense has plenty of big play ability as well.
— It’s been better as of late, but early on in training camp there were several bad exchanges between Josh Myers and Love. Tonight we saw Myers airmail a snap over Love’s head. Based on playing time, Myers seems pretty well locked into that starting center role, but as Matt LaFleur has said, they need more consistency.
— Admittedly, I mentioned the idea of the Packers keeping just five receivers early on in training camp, but now keeping seven very much seems in play. Malik Heath continues to make plays, as he has done since OTAs, while Grant DuBose has had a nice week of practices after returning to team drills. Both players saw their share of special teams snaps as well. Heath absolutely has been one of the Packers’ best 53 players.
— This was the most rotating I’ve seen at safety so far in training camp. The first series featured Darnell Savage and Rudy Ford. The second series was Ford and Jonathan Owens. The third series then saw Owens with Anthony Johnson, followed by Johnson with Tarvarius Moore. Ford made a nice play behind the line of scrimmage in the run game. Johnson made a nice break on the ball for a pass breakup on a downfield pass and Moore got into the backfield on another run, beating his blocker. However, what they are looking for at this position right now is consistency. As Brian Gutekunst said on Friday, no one has really emerged to take control of the second starting spot.
— There will be growing pains, but upon the initial viewing from upstairs, I though both Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave held their own as blockers. Without Tyler Davis, there is a void in the offense within that specific role.
— As he has done for much of training camp, a really nice performance by Romeo Doubs, who made two contested catches, one of which moved the chains on third down and the other sparked the long scoring drive.
— Maybe the Packers only roster two running backs like they did in 2023 initially, but if they keep three, it will be Patrick Taylor. He checks all the boxes that the Packers are looking for in that third running back role. He’s a starter on several special teams units, made plays in the passing game, and is a really sound blocker.
— Ultimately, the interior defensive line will have to perform when it matters most during the regular season, but this group continues to impress. Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks were both frequently in the backfield and Jonathan Ford has been generating push regularly this summer in the run game. This unit looks a lot deeper and faster compared to past years.
— Deguara will need to be relied upon as a blocker, but he has been unable to make plays with the ball in his hands. Also has been inconsistent this summer when targeted away from the line of scrimmage.
— It’s the preseason, and the starters don’t play at all or do very little, but the Packers were called for a lot of penalties in this game. Early on, especially, it was a bit of a sloppy performance on both sides of the ball.
— Joe Barry said on Friday that while Carrington Valentine has played very well, it’s important he continue to improve and build upon those past performances. Tonight, however, we saw some of those growing pains. While he still made a few plays as well, he also was flagged twice and miss played the slant to Kayshon Boutte that went for a touchdown.
— The cornerback room is very deep and talented, so I’m not sure what Kiondre Thomas’ path to the 53 man even looks like, but he is a well-rounded player, able to get off blocks, make tackles, and always seems to be close by in coverage. He was also starting on few special teams units as well.
— Tariq Carpenter is making the change to a new position, moving from safety to linebacker, but it’s worth noting that defensively, undrafted rookie Jimmy Phillips was seeing snaps ahead of him. Phillips again made some plays, both in the run and in coverage. He was also used as a blitzer.
— JJ Enagbare put together a really strong week of practices and carried it over into the preseason game, where he got the start alongside of Preston Smith. He several tackles, played the run really well, and two sacks.
— Anders Carlson bounced back well, as he often has this summer, making both extra point attempts and his one field goal attempt from 52 yards that would have been good from a lot further away. Rich Bisaccia has said that one of the things they like about Carlson was his ability to bounce back, and we’ve seen that on display.
— Aaron Jones only played the first series and AJ Dillon the first three, but it was nice to see each of them able to find running lanes. For much of training camp, running between the tackles has not been easy for the Packers offense.
— Bisaccia said on Friday that “it’s been a really good competition” at punter. Tonight we saw Daniel Whelan taking the early snaps as both the punter and the holder on Carlson’s extra point attempts, ahead of O’Donnell—although I’m not sure how much that means right now, but it’s certainly worth noting. Whelan packs power on his punts and Bisaccia added that he’s becoming more consistent as a holder.
