The scrimmage lasted just over an hour, with some special teams plays, the #1 offense vs. #2 defense, #2 offense vs. #1 defense, and then the #1's against each other. There was no tackling on the special teams plays. Here are some positives and negatives:

Thumbs-up:

Jermichael Finley--Made four catches. Three were really nice ones, including a TD. He looked just as dominating as he did at the end of last season--like he's on another level compared to the other players.

Sam Shields--Made a good break on the ball to pick off a Matt Flynn pass, then returned it 98 yards for a TD in spectacular fashion. Returned two kickoffs and handled the ball cleanly both times and looked fast and shifty on the returns, though neither was for long yardage.

A.J. Hawk--Got a sack and made a couple of tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Really nice penetrating plays.

Thumbs-down:

Quinn Johnson--Dropped an easy pass just beyond the line of scrimmage.

Brett Swain--Got injured blocking on a kickoff. He was down for a couple of minutes, then got up limping. I have not seen any updates on the injury.

Fox 11--Conducted sideline interviews during the some of the action, including the #1 offense vs. #1 defense. Not enough commentary about who was on the field.

Miscellaneous:

Jordy Nelson made a really nice catch down the seam and took a hit from Charlie Peprah. Looked like he was okay.

Andrew Quarless dropped a would-be TD pass in the end zone, though it was not an easy one.

I couldn't get any feel for the Brad Jones vs. Brandon Chillar battle, partly because of the poor coverage by Fox 11. I think Chillar played the whole time with the #1's and Jones with the #2's, though neither of them made any plays.

The punters looked decent. We need to see them in game situations, and we will, beginning next Saturday.

Crosby missed a 44-yarder but made everything else, including kicks of 51 and 53 yards. He was 7 for 8.

The defense still looks ahead of the offense, but it was competitive. The offense moved the ball and scored one TD.

That's just a quickie summary. I'm sure others have some comments to add.

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Yeah I really thought AJ Hawk stood out. He made a few good plays, including a sack and a couple stops in the backfield.

Also, Sam Shields. I really think he has a good chance to make this roster. His return abilities look great, and he wasn't doing bad in coverage.

Desmond Bishop - I only really saw 1 play that involved him. And that was the play they had him covering Jermichael Finley. I thought he covered him pretty good, but the QB threw it high (which is what he should have done) and Jermichael came down with it, of course. I don't know if there is a LB in this league that can cover him.

It didn't look like we were doing too good in the running game. But then again, our run defense is top notch.

Back to Jermichael Finley. Man, am I glad that he is on our team. It seemed like nobody could stop him....I really can't wait until the Jets game to see if Revis tries to cover him (I hope he does).

Bulaga - I didn't really get a chance to watch him but on maybe 2 plays...and I thought he did pretty good. One of the plays was a run play and he was blocking Brad Jones...Jones ended up making the tackle at the line of scrimmage but it seemed like Bulaga held him up long enough to have the RB make it by. Seemed like the RB was dancing around in the backfield for too long. However, Bulaga should have been able to hold his block longer than that - especially on a smaller guy like Brad Jones.

Overall, I thought a lot of positives came out of that game. I really hate it for Brett Swain, though. Just looking at his reaction was upsetting.

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Hawk had a good night. He seemed to have control of the D with Barnett not playing.

Raji, is everywhere. Seemed like he was in on every 1st team D snap, that Pickett and Jenkins where rotating when only using 2 down. He is also G on the FG team.

Finley makes anybody look bad.

I was impressed with Burnett. He didn't get tested in coverage, but I saw good things from him in run support. He picked his way across the field to make a stop at the LOS on the opposite side. I think the 2 deep with him and Collins is going to be tough. And he just looks big, hope he plays that way.

OLB didn't impress me one bit. If something doesn't change expect the Secondary to be tested because we are going to have to blitz every down.

RT and LG are as expected the big competitions on the line. Tauscher started with Lang and Breno taking starting snaps also. Lang also at 2nd team at RG. Colledge started the Left side with Spitz taking 1st team snaps at LG as well as 2nd team at C. Bulaga did rotate in and take 1st team snaps at LT also.

I also was not impressed with the running game. Sad to say that didn't surprise me.

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Swain is fine, actually. He said for a moment he thought it was a setback, but in the end the trainers checked him and told him everything looked fine.


If I'm not mistaken, I believe Jones also pushed back Tausher one play back into Rodgers, who as a result had to get rid of the ball faster than he'd probably have wanted. Such a bull-rush from Jones is impressive, so I'm not worried about him giving Bulaga some difficulty. It seems he is stronger, so that is a plus.

Shields looks like a really interesting prospect. It'll be fun to see how he progresses.

The two punters were pretty darn good. That will be a really fun competition, but it at least looks like we will finally have a decent punter this year.


As for the negatives in the game, I was hugely disappointed by the run game. Yes, our D was ranked #2 last year, but frankly our 1st O were playing back-ups and they still struggled. It's pretty common for us to get off to a slow start in the running game under McCarthy... so I'm not sure if I should be worried about our lack of run production yet.

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I think the above post pretty well summed it up...

I'm not liking how the run game looked for the offense and Quinn Johnson needs to show potential if he's going to make it and so far from what I've heard he hasn't... other then doing great at run blocking between the tackles. But the Packers like their FBs to be very versatile, so he's not helping his cause from the sound of it.

Also I noticed one play from ILB Alex Joseph looking good, with Chillar going over to OLB Joseph could make the team.


Also I couldn't tell who is was but on one play (with the back-up offense) the ROLB bull rushed the LT very much off balance and probably would of fell on his butt if he didn't grab the OLB to help him gain back his balance. I think it was the Underwood INT play...

I'm hoping that wasn't Bulaga... cus if it was I'd be nervous about his future. My guess is that is was an UDFA OL...




It's not just McCarthy. Under Sherman the team always started slow into the season as well and picked up later on in the season.

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Shields surprised me with some instincts at CB that I didn't think he would have. If it comes down to Shields vs. Bush, they're going to have a real hard time choosing Bush. No way Shields lasts on the practice squad.

Finley.. All Pro this year? I think so. Impossible to cover.

Oh, and it's pointless to run against this run defense. When was the last time we had this kind of rotation on the line?

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Swain was walking off the field after the scrimmage with an ice wrap. He was even reenacting the event in question. He looked fine.

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Matthews and bell banged up.

Matthews tweaked his hamstring. McCarthy did not know the severity. The Packers are already missing Brady Poppinga (concussion) and Frank Zombo (ankle) on the outside.

Cornerback Josh Bell left with a right foot injury and was on crutches. He said x-rays were negative, but hell have an MRI today.

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Thanks for summary. Had to miss scrimmage. 😞

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I'm surprised by how many people are concerned about the running game based on the scrimmage. I've always thought that the preseason is the time to judge individual players based on how they match up against opponents. We don't learn much about the units, except maybe a little in the one preseason game (typically the third one) where the teams do a little game planning.

Also, as others have mentioned, the Packer running game always looks like crap during the preseason. We've seen this for years. It doesn't mean much.

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