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13 years ago

With four days until the opener, the relay team is set. If Thursday night's season opener speeds into a track meet, the Green Bay Packers are ready.

At Sunday's practice all of quarterback Aaron Rodgers' receivers were back. Any aches and pains from camp, it appears, will not sideline the receiving corps. Randall Cobb (knees), Jermichael Finley (ankle), James Jones (bruised knee) and also defensive end Mike Neal (sprained knee) all participated during the pad-less practice.

The challenge? Piecing it all together.

Rodgers is curious himself. After completing 79% of his passes with a 130.1 passer rating during the preseason, he has reason to be confident.

" Greg (Jennings) had a bigger role last year when J-Mike went out," Rodgers said. "Greg started a little bit slow and ended up exploding with a 1,300-yard season, a Pro Bowl season. So he's a guy we want to step up and take a lead role. With J-Mike back, it will be interesting to see how defenses play us.

"If they try to double him or double Greg and play some sort of special coverage to take one of those two guys away, then Jordy (Nelson), James, Donald (Driver) and Randall need to win one-on-one battles."

Finley, lost to a knee injury in Week 5 a year ago, didn't disappoint in two preseason games.

In just a handful of series, Finley caught eight passes for 74 yards and a touchdown. More specifically, the domino effect coaches hoped for transpired. Green Bay was able to spread defenses out and get Finley on a linebacker.

On his touchdown in Indianapolis, he drew linebacker Pat Angerer, and Rodgers threaded a perfect pass up the seam.

Hence, the "very, very tough job" Jennings says Rodgers will have. A year ago, he was rendered a decoy early on with Finley getting most of the targets.

For now, Jennings doesn't anticipate any problems. The wideout says he has never been on an offense with this many weapons.

He even offered a word of warning.

"No disrespect to any linebacker out there, but he's probably more athletic and talented than any linebacker you could ever put on him," Jennings said, "so he's going to create that mismatch opportunity."

Next up, putting all of these theories into action - in games that count.

"We're definitely making strides in the right direction," Jennings said. "We're trying to make sure we'll be clicking on all cylinders come Thursday night. No one will know until we're actually under that fire."

Rookie ecstatic: The plan was to get his car up to Green Bay and find housing. Safety M.D. Jennings even said his family was ready to head north for the Packers' season opener against New Orleans.

He was confident but still unsure. The undrafted rookie from Arkansas State told relatives to hold off on the plane tickets.

"It could have gone any way," Jennings said. "A lot of younger guys were out there making plays and giving it their all."

And Jennings ended up being the surprise player on Green Bay's 53-man roster Saturday. His chances were certainly given a boost when Anthony Levine suffered a concussion and Brandon Underwood never took advantage of his opportunity.

All along, Jennings continued to make plays. He intercepted a pass in Cleveland, recovered the key onside kick in Indianapolis and showed a willingness to help in run support. His 16 tackles ranked second on the team.

"He earned a spot on our football team," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "That's the first thing, you have to recognize that. Probably like everybody here did, you sit there and say well, what about trying to pass him through waivers, but at the end of the day, we felt the film spoke for itself.

"He did it every day in practice, kept getting better, kept getting better, kept getting better. I think he's a fine young football player."

For Jennings, the biggest adjustment was depth. At Arkansas State, he typically played 10 yards off the line of scrimmage. Here in Green Bay, safeties coach Darren Perry instructed him to stay at 12-14 yards. Sometimes, even further.

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beast
13 years ago
With Greg Williams given a lot of time to plan against the Packers I expect a LOT of blitzing! He likes to be aggressive and with the weapons the Packers have, they can't give Rodgers time so trying to put him under the pressure.

It's be nice to get the Saints defenders to respect the running game first and not so set on attacking Rodgers.
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Dulak
13 years ago
I cant wait for the game! ... getting a bit excited too about seeing these rookies play. Neal, sooto? (think he will get a shot?), jennings (guess he was better then I thought; just glad underweight is off the team now - him and his 'hoaring'.

I admit I am a bit nervous about not having jenkins on our team; but thats the past and we have what we have; so its time for our DEs to shine.

I have a feeling well rip the saints a new one.
nerdmann
13 years ago

With Greg Williams given a lot of time to plan against the Packers I expect a LOT of blitzing! He likes to be aggressive and with the weapons the Packers have, they can't give Rodgers time so trying to put him under the pressure.

It's be nice to get the Saints defenders to respect the running game first and not so set on attacking Rodgers.

Originally Posted by: beast 




And also not having a third down pass pro specialist.
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