Packerholic

The Packers didn’t come out of the Tampa Bay game very healthy. We actually lost several key players. Packers Nation started  worrying about the season (myself included) but it turns out that we overreacted a little. Good news is coming out of Green Bay on every injury sustained in last week’s game.

The most significant injury in the game was Aaron Rodgers. This morning McCarthy reported that Rodgers has a shoulder sprain. As long as McCarthy isn’t sugar coating things Rodgers should be able to play this weekend. At this point Rodgers thinks he will be able to play but McCarthy won’t say for sure if he is going to play or not until today and tomorrows rehab. I think we dodged a bullet here but it better have shown Thompson that he needs to pick up a veteran quarterback. The best thing for the Packers would be for Brohm to magically come up with an injury so we can stash him on IR. We can then sign a veteran to be Rodgers backup for at least this season. The Packers need to add another quarterback since I think the Packers have no shot of ever winning a game with Flynn or Brohm behind center.

The second most serious injury was to AJ Hawk. Jay Glazer reported yesterday that AJ Hawk tore his groin which would have put him out for the season. Jay Glazer’s sources were obviously wrong on this one since McCarthy said it is only a strain. Hawk might miss this week’s game but at least it isn’t the season ending injury that Glazer predicted. Hopefully we can get Hawk back as soon as possible since based on current play he is easily our best linebacker.

Another serious injury was sustained by Cullen Jenkins. Cullen Jenkins is suffering from a pectoral strain. At this point McCarthy really didn’t say anything about his availability but at least he shouldn’t be out more than a couple weeks. Cullen Jenkins has had a good season this year and is playing the second best of any defensive lineman on the roster.

Nick Collins appears to be suffering from the same injury as last week. I am guessing he will be able to play this week as well as long as he doesn’t have a set back. I hope Bigby is able to come back though since it appears that Aaron Rouse could miss some time. Aaron ROuse ahs also struggled this season so it will be nice to get Bigby back as soon as possible.

The final injury update I have for you is that supposedly Justin Harrell is actually progressing well. According to Pro Football Weekly Justin Harrell is in the best shape he has ever been in while with the Packers. While I am not going to put a lot of confidence into this report it will be great if it is actually true. The Packers have shown that they need help at the defensive tackle position. Our defensive tackles are being run over and another body in the picture could never be a bad thing. While I don’t think Harrell will have a great season, I think just having another defensive tackle will be huge.

The final news I have today actually doesn’t deal with injuries at all. Derrick Frost has played far from good. There were rumors that he might be cut but it appears that he will be getting another week. If he suffers again though I think he will lose his job. A familiar face could become his replacement. While Jon Ryan is currently on the Seahawks, the Seahawks are currently looking at replacements. Since there probably isn’t much as far as free agent punters I wouldn’t be surprised if the Packers resigned him. If you are thinking that Jon Ryan wouldn’t want to come back he has even said that he would gladly come back to Green Bay if the Packers wanted him back. Wouldn’t that be weird if Jon Ryan was cut and resigned in the same year?

Despite losing the football game you can’t be too upset with the Packers performance. The starters only played one series while the Titans played into the third quarter. Obviously the Titans were going to win. When the Titans starting receivers are facing our 7th and 8th CBs I wonder why they were able to move the ball. Since our backups had to face their starters you can pretty much only judge this game on individual performances. So here are the pros and cons as far as players performances go.

Pros

While only getting one play you can’t be disappointed with the Packers starting offense. If you only get one play and that play is a touchdown there is no way you can complain about the performance. Rodgers threw a perfect pass and Jennings made a nice catch. It didn’t hurt that the Titans defense totally blew the coverage though. The one thing I did wish was that Ryan Grant would get at least one run since he know has had zero runs this entire preseason. I hope he will be ready for next week.

Bishop, Hodge and White have all been great on defense. Thompson is going to have a very hard decision before him in the next two days. At this point all three players have played well enough to deserve a spot on the roster. With their performances I could possibly see the Packers keeping 7 linebackers even though it is too many linebackers in my opinion. I think the only way at this point we can let one of them go is if we get a good trade out of another team (preferably for a defensive tackle). I thought the linebackers would shine in this game and they sure have.

If Bishop, Hodge, and White’s performances weren’t enough we got some great performances out of Havner and Lansanah. Havner made two great special team plays. Lansanah made several nice plays on defense. At this point both have a very slim chance of making the roster. I don’t think Lansanah has a chance (hopefully he will make the practice squad) but I think Havner actually has a very slim chance. If Havner makes the roster it will be because the coaches think he is as good of special teams player as White is. The chances of that are pretty slim in my opinion.

Jon Ryan has had a great game. Ryan boomed punts and had great hangtime on all his punts. Jon Ryan also showed that he has pretty good running skills for a punter since he ran a bad snap 35 yards. Hopefully we won’t have to see that when the regular season begins. Hopefully Ryan can continue this consistency and learn how to punt in the winter.

I think Kregg Lumpkin earned a job on the roster with today’s performance. While he didn’t have any great plays he showed consistency. I also love that he refuses to go down. Usually it takes two to three players to take him down. You can’t not like a player that gives so much effort to gaining every last yard.

I thought Matt Flynn actually had a very good game. He struggled a little bit at the beginning of the game but he really picked it up later in the game. He ended up throwing two touchdowns and almost led the team to victory in the last two minutes. Flynn probably gained a lot of confidence from that drive and hopefully that confidence will help him this season since I think he won the top backup spot tonight.

Tramon Williams proved tonight why he is the number 3 cornerback. He had good coverage the whole game and made several nice plays on the ball.

Other surprises include Joe Porter (had some very nice breakups and has a chance of making the roster), Joey Haynos (had some nice catches and blocks), Michael Montgomery (he had a sack, some nice tackles, and got pressure on the quarterback), Jeremy Thompson (while he only had one tackle this was easily his best preseason game),

Cons

Our backup offensive line really needs some work. Especially the backup tackles. Breno Giacomini lost his chance to make the roster in my opinion. He really didn’t have much of a chance to make it in the first place but his performance tonight ruined that chance. I could see him making the practice squad though since he does and the size and phsycial ability to be a pretty good offensive lineman as long as he can learn the technique. Orrin Thompson also lost his job in my opinion due to tonight’s play.

Vernand Morency really blew it tonight in my opinion. He had the perfect opportunity to make the roster but he blew it in my opinion with his pretty poor performance. Herron and Lumpkin had a much better game in my opinion.

Brett Swain had a pretty poor game in my opinion. While he did have a touchdown reception he totally ruined that goodwill with the rest of the game. Swain dropped several passes and showed he is one of the worst punt returners I have ever seen. How in the world do you call a fair catch when no one is within 15 yards of you?

Scorpio Babers will not be making the team. He blew way too many coverages and he really didn’t have much chance to make the roster in the first place.

Other Observations

The Packers will probably be looking for a new long snapper since JJ Jansen was hurt in the game and it looks like he will be missing some time if not the whole season.

I thought Brian Brohm had his best game yet. He didn’t play great but I think that was at least partially due to the poor offensive line play. Brohm just needs to develop in my opinion. He also needs to work on holding onto the ball.

Pat Lee once again had an up and down game. He made some nice plays but also blew some coverages. At this point I don’t think he will be anything more than the fifth cornerback but I do see the potential to be a very good cornerback in this league.

I think Aaron Rouse really needs to replace Nick Collins as the starter. Nick Collins totally blew a coverage tonight. Some people think Aaron Rouse shouldn’t start yet due to mistakes in coverage. This preseason I have seen Nick Collins blow more coverages than Aaron Rouse has.

So who did you think had a good games and who had bad games? Who do you think won or lost a starting job with today’s performance? Also be sure to check back tomorrow when I have my final 53 man roster predictions.