On Thursday night, the Green Bay Packers started off their preseason with a victory over the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. The team didn’t look like a group of All-Pro’s quite yet, but here are seven positive takeaways from the first Green Bay Packers first preseason win of 2015.
Green Bay Packers First Preseason Win: Seven Positive Takeaways
Depth at Quarterback
When your starter fails to throw a touchdown pass in two trips to the red zone, but two of your backups are able to march the team downfield for a pair of scores, everything just might be okay. Aaron Rodgers had an unremarkable, but respectable first quarter, but it was Scott Tolzien who stole the show, going 10 for 16 with a great 26-yard touchdown throw to second year deep threat Jeff Janis.
Later on, 2015 fifth-round pick Brett Hundley took over, and went four of six through the air with a heads up play to get the ball to John Crockett for a touchdown.
No Clear Frontrunner for Starting Tight End Job
If there is a weak link for the Green Bay Packers heading into the 2015 season, it is at tight end. Andrew Quarless and Richard Rodgers are the two likely starters however, and both looked alright against the Patriots. Read that as, they were decent, neither one did anything that would earn one a medal, nor did they commit any serious blunders.
Quarless caught two passes for 21 yards and a key first down early, while Rodgers snagged a nice pass from Scott Tolzien in the second quarter, but was short of a long first down.
Undrafted 2014 signing Justin Perillo caught two passes, with one becoming an important first down, and proved why that third job likely will belong to him. Kennard Backman, who was taken by the Packers in the sixth round of the 2015 draft, caught two passes for a total of ten yards as well.
Depth at Running Back
Five running backs and one fullback saw action on Thursday night. John Kuhn was solid through his blocks, but ended up with one carry for a four yard loss. James Starks carried five times for just 12 yards, but made up for it with good receiving numbers. Eddie Lacy rushed for an average of 7.2 yards per carry.
Alonzo Harris and John Crockett showed their worth however, each earning a touchdown. Harris’ score came after a turnover by Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. He utilized a good block, cut to the outside and blazed past three Patriot defenders who collided.
In the fourth quarter, Crockett caught a pass from quarterback Brett Hundley for a score, as previously mentioned. Both these young backs have plenty of room to improve, but they showed good promise against the Patriots.
Seven Sacks to Patriots Four
This is pretty simple and doesn’t need much explanation. The Packers got more pressure on the quarterback, they had more sacks and sacks are huge plays, not only do they put an offense back in terms of yardage, they are demoralizing.
On top of the sheer number, they got sacks from a few different positions. Defensive end Datone Jones got two, linebackers Jermauria Rasco, Carl Bradford, Adrian Hubbard, and rookie Jake Ryan added one apiece with Andy Mulumba and Jayrone Elliott each getting half a sack.
Young Cornerbacks Made Big Plays
One of the most pressing concerns for the team heading into this season is the cornerback position. Tramon Williams and Davon House departed for Cleveland and Jacksonville in free agency, leaving the team with a minor crisis at the position. Sam Shields and Casey Hayward were still present, and Micah Hyde had played on a rotation of three safeties and coaches wanted to keep him as an option there.
The team drafted two cornerbacks, Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins, in rounds one and two, and signed undrafted corners Tay Glover-Wright and LaDarius Gunter. Rollins and Gunter saw significant time against the Patriots. Gunter recorded three tackles and an interception while Rollins made four total tackles and defended three passes, nearly picking one off. Obviously these young players were playing against the Patriots’ backups, but nobody gets to be a backup in the NFL by sniffing paint and hitting their head against a wall. They’re there for a reason too.
16 Players Caught Passes on Offense
This is an early sign of what hopefully indicates depth on offense. Obviously it’s far too soon to proudly exclaim that the Packers have amazing depth and will set records, but 16 players on offense catching passes is very encouraging. Four running backs, James Starks, Alonzo Harris, John Crockett and Rajion Neal caught a total of seven passes for 60 yards.
Four tight ends combined for seven catches totaling 72 yards. They were named earlier. This means only the wide receivers are left, and eight of them made thirteen catches, earning 163 total yards.
It doesn’t mean a whole lot, but the fact that they were able to spread the ball around is great to see. Seeing young, promising wide receivers Jeff Janis and Ty Montgomery each hauling in two passes for 31 and 28 yards respectfully is also a great thing to see early in the preseason.
No Turnovers
One of the reasons for the success of the team in 2014 was a great turnover ratio. They were first in the league with +14. It goes without saying that a team’s season can go take a turn for the worst if fumbles and interceptions become frequent, just ask the 3-13 Oakland Raiders who had a turnover differential of -15 last year.
Zero fumbles and zero interceptions thrown are numbers to be happy about, but only if they continue. With six running backs taking hand-offs on Thursday night and four quarterbacks throwing passes, it is (here’s that word again) encouraging to see that there were no turnovers.
