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.

In the second to last practice open to the public there isn’t a whole lot of news to report on. For a more detailed report you can check out the Green Bay Press Gazette’s Coverage of the practice. If you haven’t heard already the Packers made their move to get down to the 75 player roster limit. You can check out my thoughts on the cuts here.

There is just one story that really stood out to me that is coming out of today’s practice. It appears that Brohm had a very good practice. I have a feeling that Brohm will win the backup job. From what it sound like Brohm looked great in practice as he lead the backups to a 60 yard touchdown drive. On the other hand it doesn’t sound like Flynn played well. Even though Flynn has played better in the preseason games I think the Packers will keep Brohm as the backup since he has played better in practice. Unless Flynn has a really good game vs the Titans I think the job will be Brohm’s.

Tomorrow will probably be the last training camp report of this season since tomorrow is the last practice that will be open to the public. When there are closed practices it is usually hard to get any information about what happened so I will probably be retiring the training camp reports for the season after tomorrow. To replace the training camp reports I am coming up with some more features that should debut next week. I will also still stay up to date with all the latest Packer news so keep checking back.

After a somewhat successful game against the Broncos the Packers returned to the practice field today. While there isn’t a lot of news coming out of Green Bay there definently is some positive news that most Packer fans should be excited about. I have three reports for you today. The Green Bay Press Gazette, JS Online, and Packers.com all have reports about the practice even though they are pretty light on the observations today.

There are several positives about the many injuries on the roster. First Ryan Grant and KGB both returned to practice. While they haven’t had a lot of practices this training camp it appears that the coaches are optimistic that both have a shot at being ready for the opener. It also appears that James Jones, Charles Woodson, Atari Bigby, Josh Sitton, AJ Hawk, Ryan Pickett, and Scott Wells are all rehabing and all have a decent to good shot of playing the first week. I doubt all of them will be ready but it will be nice to finally get some people back from injury.

Joey Haynos and Taj Smith seem to have made some really nice catches in practice. While Taj Smith’s chances of making the roster are pretty slim but if he continues to play well he will probably make the practice squad if another team doesn’t pick him up earlier. Joey Haynos on the other hand could still win a spot on the final roster. It will be hard but I think he still has a shot at it and I personally hope he gets it since I think he gives the team more than Humphrey does.

Danny Lansanah had an INT in practice today. Boy has he come out of nowhere. He really didn’t do anything in practice or the preseason until this last week. If he keeps this up I think he will have a good shot at our practice squad.

Finally is appears that Aaron Rodgers was sharp once again in today’s practice. I think people need to stop worrying so quickly. After the 49er game people thought we were doomed. People needs to realize that Rodgers will have some bad games this season as he gets adjusted to the NFL. I think he will have many more good games than bad games though. When he gets adjusted to being a NFL starter I think he will show most of his critics wrong and become a very good NFL starter.

So what are your thoughts on today’s practice? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about most of our injured players returning for the home opener against the Vikings?

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?

With the third and most important preseason game approaching quickly, today’s practice was pretty important. Today I have actually two links with full coverage of today’s practice. One is from the Green Bay Press Gazette while the other is from Packers.com (I have no idea how I didn’t find this blog earler). A lot seems to have happened today, along with a new player being added to the roster.

We’ll begin with the new player. Like I mentioned last night, Evan Moore has been placed on IR. At this point Evan Moore will either spend the season on the IR (my hope since I think he could be good next season after a years work) or the Packers could reach an injury settlement and cut him. To replace Moore on the roster the Packers have added DT Rodney Allen. Rodney Allen has most recently played for the Odessa Roughnecks in the Intense Football League (an indoor football league). I think the signing is pretty decent. I personally am not that optimistic about a player from the Intense Football League but I do like that he is a defensive tackle. The Packers really need defensive tackles even if they are just camp bodies. The thing that really surprised me though is Allen actually practiced today and he actually looked really good. I doubt he will make the final roster but with our current injuries at the DT position who really knows.

Aaron Rodgers has appeared to have gotten his accuracy back since he was able to throw the football 45 yards through the air into a very little net. I actually saw him do this at least one during the practices that I went to. I think Aaron Rodgers has amazing accuracy for his passes. He just needs to calm down in games and I think everyone will be able to see his accuracy. It probably also wouldn’t hurt if he would actually have some time in the pocket.

It’s nice to see the defensive making plays even though it isn’t making our offense look good. Today Will Blackmon intercepted a pass, Cullen Jenkins tipped a pass, and Abdul Hodge laid out Ryan Powdrell. It is always good to see your defense making plays.

Mason Crosby was once again perfect. I think Mason Crosby was easily one of the biggest steals of last year’s draft. Come on. We got him for a sixth rounder and he is already one of the best kickers in the league. Most sixth rounders don’t even make their respective teams.

Allen Barbre seemed to have had a good practice but it doesn’t seem to matter since it looks like Spitz and Sitton will be the starters once Scott Well finally gets over his trunk injury (which he reagrivated in Saturday’s game). I really think the Packers should actually think about starting Barbre and Sitton. A lot of people thought Sitton played the best of all the guards on Saturday and Spitz seems to not be able to play the other guard position. I doubt it will happen but I want to know why the coaching staff has really not given Barbre a real shot at the starting job. Barbre is getting some work at tackle though so he might have a future as either Clifton’s or Tauscher’s replacement.

Be sure to check back later today because if I find any new updates I will be sure to add them to this post. So what are thinking about right now as far as the Packers are concerned? Are you optimistic about Friday’s game or do think the Packers will embarrass themselves once again.