My Preseason Wrap Up

The Packers did what the Packers always do under the leadership of Mike McCarthy – stunk up the last preseason game, so the Packers won’t have any momentum heading into the first game of the 2018 season. The second thing the Packers did during the preseason was not play the starters much, so they have to develop chemistry during the 1st 3 games. Back in the day the offensive starters would play a quarter in the first game, a half in the second, into the third quarter in the third and a quarter or a half in the fourth and would be ready for the season opener. McCarthy doesn’t do that and the Packers are never ready for the opener offensively.

Since there wasn’t much to say about the game itself I think I will give my impression of what the team roster will look like come Sunday afternoon.

Sorry I Trumped (lied), I will talk about my 53 in the next post, so I will share some observations about the preseason. I saw all 3 backup quarterbacks play and all I can say let’s hope Aaron Rodgers doesn’t get hurt. Kizer is a project and I’m not sure what I think about him. He seems closer to Brett Hundley than he is to Doug Peterson or Matt Flynn. Tim Boyle, what an arm. I like him, but he is a major project and if Rodgers lasts to the end of his contract he will be playing for somebody. But I love the easy way he whips out a pass and he has a hell of an arm – maybe even stronger than Brett Favre’s and Rodgers’ combined. I like him, but he needs work.

Back to my general impressions. Offensively, the running game looked good early, but has stalled as the preseason progressed, but it is hard to tell exactly how it will work because the offensive line never played together. I finally saw my favorite running back from last year against the Chiefs Aaron Jones and I was disappointed. He had had a few good hard runs, but overall he had no speed, no pop through the hole, no 2nd gear, and no excitement like he had before he got hurt last year. I’m very disappointed. Jamaal Williams has looked good and I hope he is the real deal. I also like Joel Bouagnon and I think he beat out Jones (I know Jones has been suspended for the first 2 games) for the 2nd spot. The fullbacks weren’t hardly used at all during the preseason.

The offensive line is not an All-Pro line. David Bakhtiari looks good at left tackle and Jason Spriggs doesn’t look terrible as his backup. Lane Taylor played a few series against the Chiefs and I guess he will be fine at left guard, but he is no T.J. Lane or Josh Sitton or Fuzzy Thurston or Gale Gillingham. Corey Linsley looks fine at center, but he is no Jim Ringo, Ken Bowman, Larry McCarren or Frankie “Bag of Donuts” Winters. I’m not sure he will ever be an All-Pro. Justin McCray at right guard. I haven’t seen enough of him to get an impression, except that he is no Sitton or Lang or Kramer or Marco Rivera and will never be, but he is as good as Jahri Evans, I guess. Right tackle Bryan Bulaga played against the Chiefs and looked fine. He is cut below Bakhtiari, but head and shoulders above Kyle Murphy, who I really liked last year before he was hurt. It looks like Murphy is not fully recovered and could end up on the scrap heap like Don Barclay after his knee injury. The other backup tackles are journeymen. If any of the starters goes down Rodgers and the running game is in trouble.

I like the tight ends although I didn’t see much of Jimmy Graham. The wide receivers look good at times, but the three draft picks have a case of the dropsies. I’m afraid they are a year away, so Geronimo Allison and the phenom of the camp Jake Kumerow need to step up. But Kumerow injured his shoulder on a stupid leap into the end zone and he may have lost all the momentum he had to be the 3rd receiver behind Davante Adams and Randall Cobb. Allison hasn’t shown much, so let’s hope he was just being cautious and will come on like he did 2 years ago.

Overall, the offense at times looked good, very good, but it’s a work in progress and I have no clue how it will be when the gloves come off.

Defense. One word, Dom Capers. Well, maybe two. I saw no difference in Mike Pettine’s defense than I saw the last 9 years under Capers. No pass rush from the line, no pass rush, except from Reggie Gilbert, from the linebackers and bad coverage and bad angles from the revamped secondary.

The defensive line is a mystery. Muhammad Wilkerson could be a good pickup, but we don’t know yet. Mike Daniels has seemed to even out and he was hurt during camp. Kenny Clark is a budding star, but he didn’t play much, so I don’t know if he still is. Montravius Adams looked good, but he kind of faded as the preseason wore on, but he might contribute. Dean Lowry started last year and hasn’t seemed to make a leap yet. The rest showed little.

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix looked as lost as he did last year. Kentrell Brice looked ordinary as the replacement for Morgan “No Mas” Burnett. Tramon Williams looks like an improvement for Damarious Randall, but we’ll have to see how he holds up. Davon House has actually looked good, but he is slated for backup duty behind Kevin King, who seems to be injury prone.

The other corners are an interesting story. The local kiss ass media was telling us how great Lenzy Pipkins was and he could push for a starting spot, but like everything else they take on faith from the bullshit artists on the Packers coaching staff and front office Pipkins wasn’t even close. He got traded away for a journeyman inside linebacker because Ted Thompson/Brian Kutekunst short-sheeted the position and when Jake Ryan was lost for the season and Oren Burkes got injured (like always) the depth wasn’t there. They even considered moving safety Josh Jones, who was supposed to replace Burnett, but hasn’t, there. What a cluster f***k.

Demetri Goodson and Quinten Rollins looked good early on, but Goodson didn’t play much the rest of the preseason, so I can’t say if he is still playing well, and Rollins faded. However, I was impressed with both early on. The rest of the many cornerbacks and safeties didn’t step up and were shown to be lacking in coverage skills. The secondary could be a liability without a pass rush.

I hope Pettine was holding back, but if he wasn’t then all the glowing words about his aggressive nature and not being Dom Capers was just more bullshit. But if the preseason defense is the regular season defense its going to be long year.

Special teams. The new punter J.K. Scott looks good, but we won’t really know until the real games begin. Rookies have a tendency to get the jitters when the lights come on. Mason Crosby looks fine. The long snapping seemed fine, but to tell you the truth I didn’t pay much attention to who was snapping either rookie Hunter Bradley and first-year guy Zach Triner, but whoever it was seemed fine.

Trevor Davis and Quinten Rollins were the return specialists and neither showed much during the preseason.

Back to the defense. Nick Perry has been hurt and finally played against the Chiefs, but I didn’t notice him. He will be hurt again, so it’s just when. When he plays he is good, but he can’t be depended upon. When Clay Matthews was playing he was ordinary. If he doesn’t get moved to inside linebacker then I have a solution for a couple of concerns about the pass rush. I would trade him to the Raiders along with a No. 1 pick and maybe a 2, 3 or 4 or all 3 for Khalil Mack. Trading his salary for Mack’s would solve the salary cap problem after Rodgers got his new budget busting deal. The Packers defense needs some playmakers and if Gilbert is the real deal, he might or might not be, with Mack on the other side the defense might not be a liability this year and just might be an asset. I really think this deal would be the key to the season.