A day after putting on the pads, the Green Bay Packers downshifted for an hour and 25 minute closed practice that was conducted entirely inside the Don Hutson Center.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur said a chance of showers only convinced him more to stay indoors but before practice added he wanted to give the Nitschke Field turf a break as well. There were the usual individual periods and a couple of “2-spot” team periods where it’s starters on starters at one end of the field and 2’s versus 2’s at the other.
One team period in particular got my attention, one the Dallas Cowboys apparently didn’t practice enough. The offense had :15 on the clock, with no timeouts, needing to gain 10 to 20 yards, run up to the line of scrimmage and spike the ball before that clock hit zero. It had mixed results. Both the Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love units were able to beat the clock by a tick or too, there was one instance where rookie Samori Toure caught an in route and tried to start a lateral fest to gain additional yardage. When time ran out, Offensive Coordinator Adam Stenavich let him have it. Lesson learned.
Marcedes Lewis was back in uniform and Jaire Alexander was participating in individual and team drills again. LaFleur said Jaire “was a little tight” on Tuesday and got a break from team reps. New injuries from the first padded practice were running back Patrick Taylor with a groin pull and wide receiver Osirus Mitchell with a quad injury.
The practice tempo will gain momentum as the team returns to full pads on Thursday before the Family Night show at Lambeau on Friday night.
The lighter day began with General Manager Brian Gutekunst holding court in the media auditorium.
GM Brian Gutekunst with early camp impressions.
Gutekunst is in attendance for nearly every practice. So how does the GM watch the reps?
Gutekunst likes how the competition is brewing at every position. He had praise for rookies Romeo Doubs and Zach Tom for strong early showings. Signing former Raiders to help former Raider interim Head Coach Rich Bisaccia may be more coincidental than anything. Defensive back Keisean Nixon came aboard while there was still doubt about re-signing Rasul Douglas and contemplating a Kevin King return. Dallin Leavitt on the other hand was a player Bisaccia wanted. Gutekunst said he was counting the seconds from the time Leavitt was cut by Las Vegas last week to when the phone would ring with his new coordinator on the horn.
Gutekunst is pleased to see Aaron Rodgers spending time not only with his new receivers but young an old players from both sides of the ball. His engagement in the learning process will be beneficial.
As for the quarterback.
He held his weekly media session in front of his locker after practice and the 20 minute visit was lively. Rodgers talked about where the offense is overall one week into camp, the revolving door of offensive linemen in front of him and how they might not be able to wait for his new collection of pass catchers to develop a connection.
A couple of other nuggets from Rodgers: Is he OK with veterans helping Special Teams? “I love it, I love it”, he said, “ya know Rich (Bisaccia) has come in and set the standard and not too many people are talking back to him.” On reuniting with position coach Tom Clements? “It’s different for me because I haven’t been coach like that, since he was here, and I love it.” Rodgers said Clements will run drills to work on one specific fundamental and he, more than any other QB coach (and he praised them all), helped develop habits he’s held throughout his career.
One last note from LaFleur’s press conference. When asked today about Tuesday’s punt team period, he cracked a joke but wasn’t joking. Without Pat O’Donnell actually kicking the ball, the punt cover team used a jugs machine to launch balls downfield. A handful of returners looked almost comedic trying to catch them. Misjudging distance, muffs, fingertip attempts, all looked messy. LaFleur deadpanned, “we’re in the market for a jugs machine,k so if anybody has one out there..”. When reporters giggled, LaFleur got serious. “I’ver never seen anything like that,” he explained, “that thing was ridiculous. It was awful, you couldn’t get the ball to turn over, damn near impossible to catch. That was not the finest hour for our equipment staff.”
The squad is back on Nitschke Field at 10:30 Thursday morning.
