On a long overdue, near perfect summer evening, the Green Bay Packers worked out on the fabled grass of Lambeau Field for the first time in front of a very nice Family Night crowd. Completely in the spirit, when the team re-emerged after pre-practice warmups to start the big show, the wives and children of the coaches and players came out of the tunnel too. Plenty of photos were snapped on the field, should make some charming Christmas cards.
But this was another step for a young team, make plays under the lights, lots of noise and distractions. From the football side of things, there were a few eye opening plays, like Jordan Love capping his two minute drive with a great throw and even more spectacular catch by Christian Watson, or Tariq Carpenter, once a safety, now a linebacker, making an athletic interception dropping over the middle in coverage. There were plenty of solid plays for the offense, I liked some run plays more than pass completions. There’s been some encouraging developments up front on defense with the new trio of Kenny Clark, T.J. Slaton and Devonte Wyatt. Even the backups are creating some confusion, there were more than a few false start penalties on the offensive line, Zach Tom jumped on the first snap of the first team drill. Jonathan Owens got to run with the ones at safety alongside Darnell Savage. He may have been preoccupied as his wife, Simone Biles, made a grand return on the competitive gymnastics mat Saturday night. It was also a pretty good night for Anders Carlson. A lot of stories popped this week about his struggles on Nitschke Field but the draft pick missed only one on the field that counts. A 50 yard attempt off a bobbled hold was kind of chunked over the line and almost got to the posts, but the improvement was noticeable.
The best drill of the night was handled by Keisean Nixon. Fielding soft, 30 yard punts from the jugs machine, Nixon had to catch the ball and keep it trying to catch a second, and a third, and yet another. He never did a drill like this but had some fun with it.
8 players didn’t dress for the occasion. Three didn’t have an injury designation, David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins were given the night off, as was rookie running back Lew Nichols. Jake Hanson is still dealing with an elbow injury, Josiah Deguara has a calf strain, Grant Dubose remains on the non-football injury list with a bad back and of course Eric Stokes and Rashan Gary continue to mend on the physically unable to perform list.
What did the coach think? Matt LaFleur said the atmosphere was great as always, and Jordan Love got to run his first snaps at Lambeau as the number one quarterback, very warmly received at the start.
Best thing about the night? LaFleur said there were no new injuries. A day of rest Sunday, back at it Monday before the team departs for Cincinnati.
