Packers Training Camp and Family Night Thoughts

Alright, training camp is here, another offseason has passed, and injuries are popping up; so let's talk about it. As a football fan who lives in Wisconsin, most football news I catch regularly is about the Packers, they are also my favorite team, which means that I'll be talking about them more than any other team at least until the regular season starts. 

Packers Family Night was held last Saturday, and there were not any big surprises that occurred during the scrimmage. That does not mean, though, that nothing of interest occurred. The big things I noticed are: 

• Mason Crosby's kicking: He made three of eight field goals. 3 of 8! That's 37.5%. Six of those field goals were  part of a competition with Giorgio Tavecchio, who is competing for Crosby's job; Crosby made two out of those six, Tavecchio made five of his six, six of seven overall. That does not look good for Crosby. He has performed well in prior practices until Saturday, including a perfect five for five on Thursday. The good news for Crosby is that it's still early in camp, so anything is possible, but if this keeps up, I would be surprised if he is still the kicker come week 1.
• Aaron Rodgers is still Aaron Rodgers so far. But, who his backup will be is far less certain. As it stands now, Graham Harrell is the #2 QB. He does have competition in B.J. Coleman, though. I thought that Harrell looked like a decent backup, he led an 80-yard drive, including 69 yards passing, with five consecutive completions. Other than that drive, nothing else really stood out for him. For Coleman, it was a lot different. He did not play very well, throwing two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. On another drive, he led the offense to the 1-yard line and then threw four straight incompletions, the last one knocked away. Again, it's still early, so we'll see what happens.
• Rookie running back Eddie Lacy was very impressive. He had notable runs of 8, 16, and 19 yards among some others. He is still progressing, but I like his potential. I would like to see how he does against other teams. If he does well, then the Packers would have found their answer at running back, which has been lacking horribly for several years.
• On the defensive side of the ball, they seemed solid, but I did not see anything to convince me that they're better than last year, so we'll have to see how preseason plays out for them before I weigh in. That being said, there were a couple of highlights from a couple of defensive backs, James Nixon and Brandon Smith. Each one had an interception, and Nixon returned his for a touchdown. On the flipside for them, an interception or two does not necessarily mean much at this point, but it is a good start.

As of this writing, a couple of events have occurred. Brian Bulaga, starting left tackle, tore his ACL during Saturday's scrimmage, effectively ending his season. His injury worries me greatly, especially since the line was shifted around to (hopefully) provide Rodgers better protection than last year. Hopefully, someone else steps up and does well, maybe Marshall Newhouse, who was moved to right tackle, but may go back to the left side; or maybe even a certain first round pick from 2011 who has dealt with injury, Derrick Sherrod. This is definitely an area to be concerned about, but we'll see how this progresses.

Lastly, the Packers signed free agent QB Vince Young as a backup. I am not sure what to make of this currently. He might end up as the #2 QB, but it also seems likely that he could be used in practice to (potentially) replicate other NFL quarterbacks, namely Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers, and Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins; the two teams the Packers open up the regular season against.

Overall, as I've been saying, it is way too early to say much of anything since it is early August yet. As we get closer to the end of the preseason, I'll be able to say more, then. I am very excited to see what happens this season, not just with the Packers, but the rest of the league as well!

Until next time, God bless!