Camp Notes: Day 5

Some quick observations from the fifth practice of training camp. 

  • Got our first look at a couple of two minute situations. Predictably, Love and the seconds string offense did not fare well. They picked up a few first downs, one of which was on a nice shallow cross, but for the most part it was a sloppy, disjointed affair. 
  • Aaron Rodgers and the ones fared a little better, mostly aided by a big pass interference penalty against Randall Cobb, who Rodgers tried to connect with deep over the middle. But in the red zone, the defense stiffened with Rashan Gary blowing up one down with a rush up the middle that made Rodgers throw early on a corner to Davante. The final play from scrimmage for the first string was a nice pass breakup of a laser from Rodgers by Darnell Savage, who had great coverage on Robert Tonyan. The first string had to settle for a field goal. 
  • It's clear this is a team that needs to put the pads on. It's time to start hitting. 
  • Elgton Jenkins at left tackle in pass pro is like Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. You shall not pass. 
  • Randy Ramsey went down on the final play of the first team period and had to be helped off by trainers. We'll get an update on his injury tomorrow. 
  • At one point, with the pocket breaking down, Rodgers took a step up in the pocket and looked like he was about to run, but then fired one to an open Devin Funchess, who was wide open in the middle of the field after the linebackers had stepped up thinking Rodgers was going to run. 
  • At one point early on in team, the offense ran a bit a of delayed crosser for Cobb out of a bunch formation, with the rest of the eligible receivers running coverage off, leaving a wide open lane underneath for Randall to catch and turn upfield. I'd expect to see that a bunch this season. 
  • Rodgers was absolutely dealing today. 
  • Both Ben Braden and Jon Runyan got work with the ones today at left guard. 
  • Equanimeous St. Brown has had a really nice start to camp. If he keeps this up when the pads come on, he’s going to make things really interesting when it comes to deciding the WR group.
  • Jordan Love threw one of the ugliest deep ducks I've seen at Nitschke Field. But it was so bad and behind his intended receiver, it would have drawn a penalty for defensive pass interference. 
  • Early on during drill work, the defensive linemen were working with Jerry Gray, the secondary coach, on a drill that practices punching out the ball from the ballcarrier from behind. 
  • Speaking of Coach Gray, after practice was over, he walked nearly the entire length of the field with Eric Stokes, who was on his way to take his shoulder pads off and get on his bike, offering various technique and coaching points. There is no off switch on Gray. 
  • Shoulder pads finally come on tomorrow and I can't wait to see some hitting along the lines. 
  • Go Pack. 

 

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__________________________

21 points
 

Comments (33)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Roadrunner23's picture

August 02, 2021 at 03:31 pm

Thx for the updates Nags, living in Virginia I sure miss going to practice like when I grew up in skonie!

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mnbadger's picture

August 02, 2021 at 03:31 pm

love the gandalf reference. hopefully it can also be applied to stokes and at least one coverage linebacker. GPG!

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dobber's picture

August 02, 2021 at 03:36 pm

Thank you, Aaron, for keeping the reports in print. I'm more likely to engage the print media than the podcasts/video media.

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LeotisHarris's picture

August 02, 2021 at 03:45 pm

I feel you, dobber. I'm still grieving the loss of the town crier.

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dobber's picture

August 02, 2021 at 03:49 pm

My students love getting their exams fresh off the mimeograph...purple ink and all!

4 points
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BradHTX's picture

August 02, 2021 at 08:48 pm

I’ll never forget that smell…

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

August 02, 2021 at 09:21 pm

Me too Dobber! Dont have the time to listen all the music and stuff unrelated. Just give me the print to read.

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Coldworld's picture

August 02, 2021 at 03:39 pm

You said it: pads make it real. Time to get on with it.

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LeotisHarris's picture

August 02, 2021 at 03:42 pm

Thanks, Aaron. Really appreciate your summaries.

Anybody else hear John Facenda's voice when they read "the defense stiffened."?

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Swisch's picture

August 02, 2021 at 04:12 pm

With Rodgers passing the football at the top of his game, while poisoning the well at the bottom of his character, let's trade him at his peak value for other teams and his lowest value for the Packers.
Besides, Rodgers deserves to get out of the yoke of a miserly management and out of the wintry wasteland of Wisconsin. Let's do it for him to be happy and carefree again in a place that truly appreciates its players rather than kicking them to the slushy curb.
The noblesse oblige of Rodgers in looking out for the players who are the commoners of the NFL has been truly gallant and inspiring. Out of admiration, let's set him free to fulfill himself with an enlightened front office with whom he can have a wonderful cooperative relationship, instead of the dark regime of Green Bay with which he can only interact professionally.
***
Then again, a guy who comes back from a long holdout of self-absorption only to trash the organization is just going to break our hearts eventually. It may be all highlights and back slaps for awhile, but adversity awaits.
Perhaps Rodgers is a hero after all, and my take is way off. That's a possibility we could go with at considerable risk to the team and to us as fans.
However, if Rodgers is deceitful and/or delusional in his self-righteousness, this won't end well for the Packers with him as our field leader.
Let's quit all of this underlying and unnerving unsettledness while both sides are at least a little ahead.
Trade Rodgers for a first-rounder and a top defender. Save salary and keep our dignity.
Don't let the glamour guy twist us around endlessly because he makes pretty passes. I don't think he cares about us all that much, and sooner or later it's going to show.

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Crankbait's picture

August 02, 2021 at 04:40 pm

Yikes,
your diatribe is an example of self absorption.😉

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Swisch's picture

August 02, 2021 at 06:05 pm

How do you figure, Crankbait?
Please, help me to get out of my own absorption.
Rodgers has made it so that he's the hero and the front office is the villain. He's the one who is melodramatic. He forced the issue.
How can both coexist with the Packers?
***
Perhaps I am getting carried away with things, but my intent is to show the logical takeaway from Rodger's press conference.
It seems those in the front office who have disappointed Rodgers with such despicable behavior should be run out of town -- or else Rodgers is being a jerk, and should leave.
It is curious that Rodgers signed a huge contract extension with the Packers in 2018 without a peep of protest, even though by that time many of the alleged atrocities of the front office had already been committed.
***
I will admit that I am not only exceedingly weary of Rodgers, but also beginning to tire of the line of thinking that since he may lead us to a Super Bowl it's okay if he jerks us around.
I refuse to be a sap for every dashing quarterback who comes around winking at us as he drops a tight spiral into the arms of a wide receiver in the end zone.
It's not worth the relationship if the manufactured maintenance is too high.
That may be self-absorption on my part, or self-preservation.

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Vjwa's picture

August 02, 2021 at 09:09 pm

I agree; in the end I do not believe that this will end well. (it is a shame how many will sell their soul for 30 pieces of silver). I hope this ends with the super bowl wins all are betting on cause if you thought this off season was rough wait till next year

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jurp's picture

August 03, 2021 at 07:12 am

It's almost like we're all in an abusive relationship with AR.

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wsn's picture

August 02, 2021 at 05:25 pm

With the reports of inconsistency, I'm grateful Rodgers is back, and I hope every packer has a fantastic year including love and gute and mlf.

I'm ready for football and less attacks.

Thanks for the article. I agree with the other posts that this format works well for those if us that don't do the videos.

6 points
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Pistolero's picture

August 02, 2021 at 08:30 pm

"Let's quit all of this underlying and unnerving unsettledness"?

I kind of thought we did. And I pretty much thought Aaron Rodgers did. Both sides resolved it to their satisfaction and are focused on football. You should, too.

"A guy who comes back from a long holdout of self absorption only to trash the organization"?

You know, he was asked what his problem was and what it was about and he answered the question. Did you want him to lie? He said it was resolved to both side's satisfaction and it was time to move on. I agree.

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Swisch's picture

August 02, 2021 at 09:56 pm

Rodgers could have said that all wasn't perfect with him and the front office, but he appreciates their efforts to work with him.
Instead, he went out of his way to portray them as cold and calculating, if not cruel, masters. Yet he signed a contract in 2018 after he supposedly saw some of these outrages against players cast aside so heartlessly.
What all this seems to means is that Rodgers has left things unresolved and lingering in a way that will likely perpetuate this story all the season long.
If Rodgers is right, the front office is villainous. If Rodgers is deceptive or delusional about his claims, then he is no person to trust for leading the Packers to the Super Bowl.
If Rodgers was so noble and the front office so base, maybe he shouldn't have returned this season as a matter of principle, or maybe he could have been much more diplomatic publicly while still being firm in private.
What he did was basically say the front office is evil, and now he's ready to move on. What a pathetic stunt, it seems to me.
If this is the real Aaron Rodgers, and I was in the front office, I wouldn't trust him to mail a letter for me, let alone get involved in personnel decisions.
As a fan, I don't trust him to lead the Packers as of now. He's apparently either unscrupulous or unstable. I'd get rid of him as soon as possible.

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Pistolero's picture

August 03, 2021 at 02:43 pm

The only way to get the media to stop asking about something is to tell them everything. Your proposal of being vague about it would never work and would only prolong the questions all year long. I also disagree with the degree of "evil" you want to pretend he was suggesting. He didn't say anything like that. It was much more along the lines of "It's a business I understand that I just thought players could be treated better" kind of thing.

So at it stands, the only ones prolonging the drama are people like you. Time to get over it.

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

August 02, 2021 at 09:23 pm

Well said Swisch, and no...he doesnt give a crap about us. All BS!

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Qoojo's picture

August 02, 2021 at 04:35 pm

"I'd expect to see that a bunch this season."

I know you meant that for the offense, but i kept thinking defense.

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saltandpeppers's picture

August 02, 2021 at 05:15 pm

EQ or Funchess for the 6th WR spot. Sad they can't keep both (barring injury).

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Swisch's picture

August 02, 2021 at 06:33 pm

As I recollect, my freshman year of high school in the western suburbs of Chicago, way back in 1976, we had two weeks of double-practices in the heat of August before school started, most of that time wearing pads. I was actually glad when classes began, and we only had one practice per day.
That was my sixth year of tackle football in the unexciting days when even the pros ran the ball most of the time in the spirit of the old adage, "Three yards and a cloud of dust." I wanted to be like Davante Adams flitting around the field for pass catches, or even Big Bob Tonyan considering my lack of athleticism.
Unfortunately, I was more like Marcedes Lewis as a tight end with almost all blocking duties and very little in the way of receptions. Also, my salary was paltry, and my coach barely noticed me ;-).
In boredom, and figuring I had reached my peak in terms of performance as well as enjoyment, I retired after that season with my knees intact for mediocrity in other sports.
Now where was I . . . ? Oh, that very winter on the Illinois prairie the most astounding thing happened. I was walking the ten miles home from basketball tryouts in my canvas Converse hightops when the strangest snowstorm settled in . . . .

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13TimeChamps's picture

August 02, 2021 at 07:02 pm

Ah....70s football, when men were men! When the Jack "The Assassin" Tatum's were out there head hunting. When concussions were referred to having your "bell rung" and get your ass back out there. When CTE was unheard of yet.

Yeah, let's get back to that gladiator mindset. Screw the health of the players.

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Swisch's picture

August 02, 2021 at 07:20 pm

The coach of our varsity team seemed somewhat like Woody Hayes, so that was another reason for me to quit while I was ahead.
To me organized football was rarely as fun as it was playing in the backyard. I liked the camaraderie of the team, but the game was mostly boring to me. I used to look at the clock tower of the nearby county courthouse, as well as the sun setting in the shortening days of autumn, longing for practices to end.
The passing game really livened up the game at all levels of football, it seems. However, it may have gone too far. I'm glad for the Packers to be bringing back the run for a more balanced attack, and to watch A. J. Dillon crunch some defenders.
Some physicality in football is a good thing, but I agree it can easily go too far. I was more into diving on the grass for receptions and interceptions. That was fun!

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

August 02, 2021 at 09:28 pm

13Champs...yes I miss those days!

Know many professions that are many times more dangerous than football, and they make paltry salaries. Let's not over due the health of the player stuff will ya. Players make so much money in just a few years they could retire but most dont and keep playing. It is their choice! Lay people working crazy hours and hazardous jobs do not have a choice.

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13TimeChamps's picture

August 02, 2021 at 09:41 pm

You do realize I wasn't glamorizing those days, right?

I'm glad you miss those days. I don't.

"Let's not over due the health of the player stuff will ya."

Geezus

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Swisch's picture

August 02, 2021 at 10:57 pm

I get the concern about the players, and am totally with you, 13TimeChamps, but these guys aren't working in coal mines and steel mills.
As you may well know, less than a century ago the average American worker was forced to work six days a week, 10-12 hours a day, for paltry pay in dirty and deafening and dangerous conditions. There were no vacations, hardly any holidays, no benefits from the company and no unemployment compensation from the government. If a worker was crippled on the job, too bad.
Then, after World War II when the average American worker finally got some protections and benefits and a decent salary, he was soon sold out overseas. Now it's the foreign workers who have to endure these miserable conditions of exploitation, plus all of the unregulated pollution in their neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, now the average American worker is left with no good jobs at all, and is forced to scramble in a gig economy with three part-time jobs that don't add up to nearly as much in support as one good job. It's hard to keep up the hectic pace and the hope for a better tomorrow. In the resulting discouragement and destitution and desolation, many die of addictions or overdoses, even suicides.
***
Many of the fans of the Packers are hurting severely, and all they get from the NFL is that they're backward and bigoted racists. It's hard for them to relate to the pouting of Aaron Rodgers, as well.
The American families who built this country with their sweat and defended it with their blood are now last in line in the priorities of many politicians. They've been abandoned as far as the dignity and rewards of work, and then trashed as despicable rubes.
Instead of supporting radicals who are smashing and burning and looting America, maybe the NFL could truly help average Americans of all colors suffering in silence from being ignored -- especially as these are the real football fans of our country.
Instead of insulting fans, how about substantial initiatives for better jobs, improving schools, and stronger families?

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13TimeChamps's picture

August 03, 2021 at 08:19 am

I thought we were talking about the length of practices today versus in the 70s in the NFL. I didn't realize we were doing a case study of the history of labor practices throughout the world over the past 100 years. Talk about going off on a tangent.

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Swisch's picture

August 03, 2021 at 09:44 am

I did get at least a little carried away, though it was in trying to back up the point by Knock that we shouldn't get carried away in portraying NFL players as oppressed.
You have a good point, too, 13TimeChamps, not to take the difficulties of the players too lightly.
This seems to be one of those cases where we would all pretty much agree when all is said and done.
A good day to all.

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gvtspook's picture

August 02, 2021 at 11:23 pm

KnockTheSnotOutOfYou it was 20 years ago yesterday Korey stringer died because he over heated in vikings practice. But like you said he was an NFL player making good money so let's not over due the health of the players stuff. I like to think it doesn't mater what a someone makes. No one should have to risk there health needlessly. Weather that's a death like Springer or the suicides from cte and brain trauma or just the fact the nfl players life's are significantly affected by the damage their body's and brains take. Especially when it can be prevented

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mbpacker's picture

August 02, 2021 at 08:10 pm

Nags- Thanks for doing this ...... on a daily basis.

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

August 02, 2021 at 09:29 pm

Yes, thanks!

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SanLobo's picture

August 03, 2021 at 10:30 am

Love the ‘bullet point’ format. Well done Mr Nagler!

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