Packerholic

Today was the final training camp practice opened to the public. Green Bay Press Gazette and Packers.com have reports on the practice. A couple things stood out to me though.

Donald Driver’s drops returned to practice again. At this point I am not too worried since Driver has had troubles with drops at the beginning of previous seasons and he fixed the problems. Driver really needs to stop the drops once the regular season begins since we have enough troubles as it and we don’t need to add the trouble of dropping passes that should have been caught in the first place.

The defense appeared to have a very good practice. Will Blackmon, Joe Porter, Pat Lee, and Tramon Williams all made big plays in practice today. While some people might take this as a negative against the offense I like to think of it as a positive for the defense. It appears that our backup cornerbacks are starting to make plays and not blow coverages (two things they couldn’t do against the Broncos).

Brohm appeared to struggle once again in practice. I am guessing this training camp is not what a lot of people expected out of him when we drafted him. I wouldn’t worry too much though. Quarterbacks usually struggle in their first season. I can remember Aaron Rodgers really struggling during his first season. Obviously he has overcome most of those problems. I would give Brohm some more time before I would even consider calling him a bust.

Jermichael Finley appeared to have a good practice. He supposedly caught everything that even came near him. I honestly don’t know why some Packer fans are so negative about him. He hasn’t been perfect this training camp but he has shown multiple times that he has the skills to be a very good NFL TE. Today is the perfect example. I think Finley could already be used as a pretty good pass catcher. The one thing he needs to work on in my opinion is his blocking. Most TEs out of college struggle with their blocking but most eventually learn how to be pretty good blockers. I think Finley ahs a very bright future with the Packers.

So that is the final training camp report of the season. Next year I will continue the training camp reports but it is now time to focus on real football and the regular season. While some people might be pretty negative about the season I am quite optimistic and think the Packers will win around 11 games this season. As long as the Packers can get their players back from injury and avoid to many more injuries in the regular season I think the Packers are Super Bowl contenders. Be sure to check out my final 53 man roster prediction after the Titans game.

So what are your expectations for the season? Do you think the Packers will compete for the Super Bowl, the first pick, or somewhere in between? I would like to hear other Packer fans expectations on the upcomming season.

I’m sorry I couldn’t get this out earlier but my internet has been down most of the day. Today I have three links today for reports on today’s practice. Green Bay Press Gazette, JS Online, and Packers.com all have reports on today’s practice (the last open to the public before Friday’s game). While it doesn’t seem like a lot happened today in practice there are a couple things to bring up.

Jermichael Finley seemed to have had the best practice on the team. Finley seems to be developing and I think he could have an influence on the team this year. While he won’t make a ton of big plays this season, I think he will have a couple of deep passes and could be a threat in the end zone. Finley had two red zone TDs. Hopefully Finley’s success in the red zone continues since the Packers could use another red zone threat.

It appears that the Packers will be missing quite a few starters for Friday’s game. AJ Hawk, Ryan Grant, Scott Wells, Ryan Pickett, Justin Harrell, Daniel Muir, DeShawn Wynn, and Charlie Peprah all seem unlikely to play on Friday. While I don’t usually worry about minor injuries, I am really starting to worry with so many key players out. At this point I am starting to worry that Hawk, Grant, and Pickett might not be able to go when the season begins. I hope I am wrong but if none of them are ready to play the Packers could be in a lot of trouble.

Rodgers accuracy continues to shine as he made another 45 yard pass into the small net. Rodgers has shown on the practice field that he has the accuracy to be a QB in this league, he now needs to show it on the field though. If Rodgers can get enough time in the pocket and can relax I think he will be a very good QB for us. If Rodgers can’t settle down or the protection doesn’t improve soon I think the Packers could be in some trouble.

Aaron Rouse made another play in practice. With another INT I need to say that the Packers are really making a mistake of not even giving him a chance at the starting job. While McCarthy has said that there is technically a competition for the starting safety job you can tell that there isn’t one. Rouse has played much better than Collins could even imagine and he is still not starting. I don’t know why McCarthy can’t give Rouse a shot with the starters to at least see what he can do. I think Rouse and Bigby could make a great tandem at safety as long as they can improve their coverage at least a little since last season.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for a preview of Friday’s game and also two new features that I will be starting.

With the latest from training camp what are you expecting out of Friday’s game? Do you think the Packers will redeem themselves or will they struggle once again?

From reports around the internet it sounds like yesterday’s practice was very interesting. I personally wasn’t able to go so I got all my information from the following three stories. Two are from the Green Bay Press Gazette (Offense Finds It’s Groove, and Night Wrap-Up) and one from JS Online (Friday Camp Report). So here is what stood out to me in the three reports.

• It seems like the offense is finally starting to get going. This is actually pretty normal since offenses always take longer to get going in training camp than defenses do. It seems like the first and second teams are both improving quite a bit.
• Jermichael Finley appeared to have a good day. From what I way of Finley on Wednesday I think he will be a good player. He is a rookie tough so you need to suspect some growing pains and mistakes. If Finley can continue to excell by getting off the line quickly I think he could really help out the Packers’ offense this season.
• Brian Brohm seems to be developing pretty quickly. Brohm didn’t look bad in Wednesday’s practice but I think he does need a little work with his timing since he did have some INT problems. I think he will naturally develop that timing and he should be fine.
• Will Blackmon and DeShawn Wynn both sat out the practice with injuries. Neither injury appears to be serious but they do worry me a little since both have an injury history. Hopefully both can recover from their injury since both have quite a bit on untapped potential.
• Rodgers apparently didn’t have a great practice. Packer fans should worry though since Rodgers will have some bad practices. In my opinion it is better if he struggles in practice and learns from his mistakes instead of making the mistakes in an actual game. I don’t think people should worry since I think it was just a bad day and he will rebound.
• The Packers supposedly have a 3-3. Supposedly Poppinga ended up lining up as a DE. While I don’t know how successful the scheme will be I really like that Bob Sanders is finally willing to open up the defense and try something new. In the past the Packers have suffered from having too bland of a defense and hopefully this shows that the defense is going to be willing to take some chances.
• Rouse continues to make plays with another INT in yesterday’s practice. I think Collins should really start looking over his back since I think Rouse is coming really close to taking his job.
• Two scuffles broke out in practice. While most people will think of this as a bad sign I will take a positive out of it. The players are obviously playing with a lot of energy which is always good for a football team.
• The Packers offensive line appears to be improving quite quickly since they are starting to dominate in the one on one drill. Barbre still seems to be the best fit for the starting guard spot. I also heard that Josh Sitton is really impressing the coaches so that is also a positive.