It will be an interesting year no doubt. I have no expectations for this team. My observations from watching the preseason is that the punt and kickoff coverage units are still bad. They look slow. As long as Joe Berry is the DC the Defense will remain in the bottom half of the league. He has never coached a top Defense in his career. You can't blame it on talent any more with all the number 1 picks starting for the Packers on Defense. Hope I'm wrong.

"I find no real reason to think the defense will be substantially different from what it has been. The coordinator is the same. The only starting line up change is in the front with Devonte Wyatt and TJ Slaton stepping in for Dean Lowry and Jarran Reed."

Hmmm.. I do Ken, mainly because I think Slaton and Wyatt can be SO MUCH better than Lowry and Reed. It also frees up Kenny Clark to move around more. Moving around Clark can only mean good things. IMO Wyatt just needs to play. I think by week 10 this kid will be showing EVERYBODY why he was worth a 1st round pick.

I also think with Douglas playing outside opposed the the slot, the Packers have one of the top 5 CB tandems in the NFL.

But mostly I believe is because I think MLF has suggested, VERY strongly to Barry, this defense HAS to be more aggressive. I think Barry has actually listened to his players and is going to let them PLAY Defense. Not that lame ass pattycake 8 yards off BS!

LEAN on the running game and keep Love in favorable down and distance and they'll be fine. It's GOING to take time. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if every team does exactly what the Chiefs did 2 years ago when Love started for the immunized Rodgers... It's MLFs and Loves job to make them pay.

OK -Doesn't work for me.
The success of this team depends on Love.
I can handle a brain fart now and then.
But the throws better be hits.
Because if he misses. We all know the results.

I expect inconsistency. But a GOOD inconsistency.

I think that's better than consistent mediocrity, which is what we've had from players like Lowery, Tonyan, Lazard, etc.

I expect to see us throwing more interceptions and the defense giving up more big plays,

but I also expect to see US making more interceptions and TFLs and hitting on more big plays on offense.

That will be fun!

We'll see how the football gods balance the scales on injuries and luck.

A fair assessment, but I differ on two points. One, as Nick Perry alluded to above, is that Devonte Wyatt and T.J. Slaton should be an upgrade over Dean Lowry and Jarran Reed. Nick explained why. Two, I think Jordan Love will be better than just okay. Not great, but better than average. The accuracy issue is an ongoing concern, and it's bound to result in some interceptions. But every quarterback makes some inaccurate throws. At this point, Love's accuracy problems are enough to keep him from being a top tier QB, but not enough to keep him from being a very good QB. And this is something that he may be able to clean up.

The Replacements. (Tuesday afternoon)

Offense: Love, Reed, Heath, Wicks, Musgrave, Kraft

Defense: Brooks, Wooden, Van Ness, Hollins (signed late Nov. 22), Valentine, Johnson, Moore

STs: Orzech, Wehlan, Carlson

That's significant churn among the starters and backups playing meaningful snaps (top 30-35 of roster) from last year's 8-9 squad.

This is the year where Gutey and MLF's staffs will have an outsized role in determining the Packers' success. Gutey's staff has me encouraged. MLF's staff still gives me questions. Brian Flores is wearing ugly purple...should be in Green and Gold. However, I sense MLF is being more assertive and in charge. The shadow of 12's intimidation has been lifted.

"This team is good enough to be competitive. This is not the four-win, bottom feeder disaster that some pundits were predicting. The Packers are good enough to compete against every team on their schedule. It remains to be seen how many of them they can beat, but they are not going to be a joke. There is ample talent across all units, an effective mix of experience and youth. There is strong locker room leadership and a coaching staff that seems willing and able to design the team around its strengths and abilities. "
-This is about perfect. They will not be a bottom feeder team nor will the be the number 1 team in the league (right now). This is a team that has a ton of talent. They have too much talent to be a bottom feeder. The only thing is there is so much inexperienced talent that we can't put a ceiling on this team. But our floor should be much higher then many originally thought.

"Jordan Love is going to be okay. Not great, and not terrible. Just okay. In the preseason he has thrown remarkable passes and he has missed wide open receivers. He has the arm to make all the throws, but his accuracy is erratic, particularly on the long ball. He is athletic and can make plays with his legs. He has shown he can move the team and finish drives."
- This team will go as far as Love can take it. A year ago we were 1 game away from making the playoffs. That was with a QB who was playing with a broken throwing thumb. An OL that was a mess for half the year. A group of WR's that were injured all year. TE's that really provided very little in the passing game. It won't take much for Love to mimic last years numbers that Rodgers put up.
Now what we have learned so far with Love is that he has the arm strength and the makeup to be really good. He just needs the playing time. One thing that seems to be a tend with Love. He seems to start slowly. But once he gets going he gets into a groove and looks really good.

"The inexperience of the receivers does not look like it’s going to be a problem. Watson, along with Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed, are able to run crisp routes and get separation. They do have a bit of a history of getting dinged up and missing time. Depth at receiver will be a critical factor this season. Malik Heath appears to be a find."
-The WR's are inexperienced and the only thing that we can change about that is to get them experience. Watson, Doubs and Reed are our top 3 WR's. They will really feed off of each other. What preseason game 3 really showed me is that Heath is WR#4. When Doubs surprisingly didn't start Heath was the next person up. He is WR4 right now. Wicks will be on the team if he is healthy. That is 5. I would assume they will keep 6 or 7 total.

"Rookie tight end Luke Musgrave will be counted on to contribute right away."
- Musgrave is a difference maker type of player. His speed will really impact this team right away. You can see it and feel it when he is on the team. He can take a short pass and turn it into an easy 10 yard gain.

"The offensive line looks solid."
- Our OL will be really good! Bakhtiari, Jenkins, Myers, Runyan and Tom IMO form the best OL in the league. At the very least it will be top 5. They also have good depth too. Walker and Yosh would probably be started for other teams in this league.

"I find no real reason to think the defense will be substantially different from what it has been."
- The DL and Edge will be greatly improved! Lowry and Reed were average at best last year. Wyatt and Slaton already have shown that they are at least at the same level as those guys. But I also believe they will be much improved. And then add in our 2 rookies who provide speed and the ability to cut through the OL, this group will be much better. Our OLB is the deepest we have seen here. Gary coming back and looking to destroy offenses is the key to the front 7. Enagbare looks ready to take a big year 2 jump. Van Ness will be brought along at his pace but he already looks like he will be good at setting the edge.

"Breaking in a new kicker can bring about some weird results."
- Carlson has looked like a rookie. Ups and Downs. But his 57 yard FG with room, clearly showed he will be our kicker this year. But expect some missed kicks along the way. We as fans just need to be patient.

I'm excited for this year. First lets see who makes the 53 and who makes the PS. Then onto week 1!
I can't wait!
Go Pack Go!

When Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers was our QB, I expected wins. With Jordan Love taking over, I am cautiously optimistic that we can continue to win consistently. I got to go to the game this weekend and I thought the team looked pretty good. Love looks competent and capable. The offense looks well stocked with young, exciting pass catchers and the defense definitely has the talent to be dominant. I expect growing pains this year but I also believe this team shows great potential! GPG!

"So, after five weeks of practice and three preseason games, what have we learned about this team? Let’s start by looking at the big picture." - Ken Lass

What have we learned?
Not much.

We start to learn on Sept. !0 and each week thereafter.

The Packers should be the dominant defense in the North based on personnel...and it should not be a close call.

This should make them the odds on favorite to win the Division.

My concern is Flores will do far more with much less talent in Noisy Hornland (sounds like a whale in heat).

I look forward to being surprised, delighted, amazed, and grateful for Joe Barry. Packers are still undefeated.

RED ZONE SCORING

Jordan Love Preseason:
6-6
56yds
3 TD/ 0 INT
PR 145.1

Red Zone scoring was a huge issue last season, where the Packers ranked 23rd in the NFL.
Aaron Rodgers RZ:
45-75
60%
17 TD / 2 INT
PR 105.3

I think we learned we might show signs of improvement in the red zone in 2023 and beyond. JL has a number of better quality targets to throw to, our OL should be improved after having been put under the microscope, and our RBs will hopefully be used more tactfully.

We’ve learned our skill players should prove difficult to defend, and they are deep.

We learned we have trenches, plural. DL and OLB depth might be the best we’ve seen in decades. We have great CBs who should see their chances to ball hawk increase with that pass rush improved.

We learned we might be better at stopping the run. Questions at ILB depth and everywhere at S give great pause.

I’m confident Brian Gutekunst will shore up the talent at both positions, and we might survive those weaknesses.

We learned we’ve got a Kicker with a strong enough leg to make the long ones. Good.

Now, we get to learn about the coaches who have left us fans with a plethora of unanswered questions floating in 1265’s ether.

Let's step into the Wayback Machine for a couple minutes. Here's Larry McCarren in August of 2022:

https://www.packers.com/video/matt-lafleur-congratulates-larry-mccarren-...

Last year Larry was ready to watch our HOF QB and top 10 defense take us to the Super Bowl. He'd seen it before, and 2022 was going to be the year. Based upon what he's seen in training camp, he knew!

Certainly Larry knows more about professional football than almost anyone here on CHTV. We'll see what we see, a week at a time. And. at the end of the season we can argue about what we saw. And. we will look upon it and it will be good. So ends the epistle for the day.

Ken,

good article! There isn't much I disagree with you about but here are a few points:

1) I don't see JL10 as being erratic on the long ball. I think he excels there, and fear he'll try it too much. Where he's been kinda erratic is missing the easy layups. I see that as fixable.

2) I'm not placing any bets but I think #31 Wilson is at risk of being poached whereas #27 Taylor is not. (Or less so) The more I've seen the more I like the idea of starting out with 4 RBs on the roster and stashing depth at WR on the PS; bring them in later as needed and find out what we've got at RB (specifically Wilson and Goodson once he's healthy) because we don't have cap space to keep all the veterans we want next year.

I'm not saying I think they'll actually do any of this, just that it seems like good strategy.

3) I'm not sure we're actually stacked with talent at every position. S is the room everyone points to as being weak, ILB is questionable, as is the inside of our O line. Moving Tom to C would help everything a ton, and they don't seem willing to do that. People are hoping Gutey improves these rooms via trade, I'm not sure what that might yield. Continued development through the season is also a thing.

Will be a very interesting season! Best preseason games for a long time, and by far ...

This will be a good team if it stays healthy. Of course, that could be said about most of the NFL.

That's why they play the games.

I rewatched the game. Yosh played fine at T, but his body language was not good. He obviously knows he is not going to start and will be spending more time on the pine to start the season...during a contract year.

Maybe he is dangled as trade bait for a S with a starter's pedigree. He could start at T for many teams.

What have we learned about the Packers this preseason?

I learned that this team, and HC loves vanilla.
There are some able young guys that might like a different flavor.
I learned that cut down day will be based on a lot of vanilla.
Having too many young guys opens the FO for cut mistakes.
Didn't see enough to move the needle on the win total of 7.5.
What you see in preseason isn't as good or bad as one might think.
This team is a true week-to-week wait and see.
Only so-much juice can be squeezed from undeveloped fruit.

So to sum what I learned, I'll leave you this.
https://youtu.be/E5ofVsxTPoc?si=htM27lqI2LboJQI7

The Packers ended the preseason as they began it.

They ended with a strong armed but inexperienced young QB who will take tie to evolve into a solid NFL starting QB. The QB position has literally one complete NFL game among the group.
They ended with an excellent RB tandem and an inexperienced WR corps which does not have a single WR who has played a full NFL season.
The Packers ended the preseason with a TE unit which was weak to begin with and has been weakened further by the loss of Tyler Davis.
The OL ended the preseason with the same questions about the right side of the OL which they began the preseason with. Best starting 5 on the OL as of today are: Bak, Jenkins, Tom, Runyan, and Walker. If they keep Myers a Center and Tom at Rt I think we will see another round of musical OLs during the regular season.

ON defense the DL may finally have a few players besides Clark who can contribute. We'll find out during the season.
The apparent earlier than expected return of Rashon Gary is a boost for the defensand the Packers pass rush specifically. ILBs look solid but this depends to some degree on the status of Campbell's ankle injury.
CBs are solid with a question mark remaining at the Slot.
The Packers ended the preseason at Safety as they began, with no answers and without legit NFL players in the position group. This is a major concern for the defense as the season begins.
STs should be OK. Carlson will be a week by week wait and see.

As for me I entered the preseason without expectations for this team and I am ending the preseason without any expectations. 2023 will be a season a season of learning and growing for the team and of learning for the fans. Thanks, Since '61

Whatever you think of Reed and Lowry in the short term, Wyatt and Slaton will definitely be an upgrade for the long term--which is the most important thing. The rotational players have shown a lot of promise as well. Embrace the rebuilding effort and let go of the memories.

Wyatt and Walker didn't show all that much during preseason games. Seems they did "ok" in camp from what I read.

Wyatt didn't play much in the 3 games as Brooks and Wooden took snaps and auditioned with above average grades. Walker played a lot and didn't make many splash plays but seems his pass coverage was good.

Both young men will greatly benefit with Kenny joining Wyatt and Campbell alongside Walker. Walker has no real competition in his room. Wyatt does in his.

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