My take:

- Our Oline looks much improved.

- Sutton got a heck of alot of carries and I think MM likes what he sees; I think he will use sutton a bit more these next 3 games and if he looks good he will keep him as one of our players (good for him - I was impressed also by his speed and quickness to find the holes).

- Rodgers played well; read the coverage and the line.

- Flynn did ... alright. Decent for a 2nd stringer. Brohm on the other hand did better at handing the ball off to lumpkin or sutton then throwing the ball. I think he did have a nice pass to nelson that was called back thou.

- Like I said a few months ago. The best person we picked up this offseason was Capers. And this was clearly shown in how our D performed and the number of blitzing, pressures, sacks, INT.

- Bishop gets my nod for MVP Dman. Glad he stepped up because I dont know how barnett's knee is and hawk has been inconsistant.
Bishop had 1 int and a sack and was in on a few blitzes.

- Finley got some passes and wasnt so raw. Last year he could barely catch the ball.

- Jones (my man) did well ... IMO we have 3 great receivers on our team. Makes it a nightmare to cover if they put all 3 in.

- Driver shows his stuff at the start by pulling away and grabbing a 50+ yard TD.

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Overall impressions

Nice improved Oline (meaning no matter what package they had in they blocked well - penalties were an issue again thou).

Our new D under Dom ... this is going to be exciting to see this year. OLB blitzes, ILB blitzes, Safety Blitzes, Corner back Blitzes ...

Nice RB options

The performance of the O-line was key, and it was very good except for all those penalties in the second quarter.

What I love about this defense is that pressure on the QB can come from any one of 11 guys. With the previous defense, QB pressure was about 90% the responsibility of the D-line.

Johnny Jolly was dominant for a stretch in the first quarter.

I liked Sutton a lot too, but all of the RB's looked good, and the Packers like bigger RB's. So I don't think Sutton will make the roster. It could get interesting, though, if they give him some opportunities to catch passes. He looks like he could be a good change-of-pace RB as a multiple threat.

I thought Flynn was more than alright. I thought he looked very good. Brohm, on the other hand, was awful. I can't think of anything that he does well. Bad decision-making, bad pocket presence, poor mobility, poor accuracy, below average arm strength. Did I miss anything?

I was hoping to get a read on A.J. Hawk because I've heard so little about him in training camp, but he only played a couple of series. I don't think he blitzed at all (at least I hope not, because I sure didn't see him blitzing), and no plays came his way. So there's not much to judge him by.

A little perspective: the Browns were horrible and the Packers were blitzing a lot. It was not the usual preseason vanilla scheme. Still a great way to begin the preseason, though.

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It does seem as thought our O-line may be somewhat improved. Of course it's hard to give true answers in the pre-season.

I think the defense will be something to watch! You could just see the attitude and improvement...once again, pre-season, so I will temper my excitement a bit. But still!

And I think Sutton could be the Pack's version of Darren Sprowles!.

Overall it left me with a VERY positive feeling, I just hope these positives carry over to when the games count. GO Pack, GO!

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very briefly, since it's just ONE "pre" game and the Browns are...well, the Browns. nevertheless:

1) Desmond fucking Bishop. we've all been hearing about him but i wasn't convinced. until last night. i am now CONVINCED.

2) Confidence. i really, really liked the look in Rodgers' eyes coming into the game. i liked, overall, everything i saw from nearly EVERY player in this regard (aside from Brohm who is likely to be left in a ditch some dark night soon).

3) i was really worried about the 3-4 all the way through most of the 1st quarter but as the game went on i started to really see the benefits, and while this year may provide some growing pains...man did our guys look like an actually THREAT as a unit. i was pretty damn impressed, though i expect it to backfire a few times this regular season as our guys adjust (one thing about that though...i feel like some of our guys were meant for this system).

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It is just preseason, and it is just one game. However, Packer Defensive backfield was upto last year's standards and the scheme looks to be working as the Dline got the pressure on most of the game.

Intensity difference was big. Last year, we lacked that and it showed. This year, it looks like the intensity is back.

All in all a good game.

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I was pleased with just about every aspect of the team last night, Only thing is damn Crosby you need to hit that 60 yarder or the 55 yarder lol. Rodgers looked pretty good, the defense was fun to watch. But have to remember this was the 1st preseason game, hope it keeps up.

But after all that is said i'm just happy as a pig in sh*t that football is back 🙂

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Frame time

Anthony Smith also had a very good game. INT, Sack and good tackles. Good FA pickup and at minimum will be a very strong backup. With how solid he played, seems like we may be able to have a safety rotation to help keep them fresher.

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Such a shame that Crosby missed that 60 yarder. He apparently nearly never missed to the left. Would've loved to have seen that one go in.

Makes you wonder though, was McCarthy scared to throw his punting unit out there? Or was he just playing around, since it's pre-season.

Loved the imposing of our will on the last two drives. Especially the last one. You could just hear the desperation in the voices of the Browns' announcers. I don't know what was more humiliating, though. Us running the ball like that, or us pretty much going mercy rule style on them.

POSITIVES:

- You could finally see TE Finley's 4.4-4.5 speed that Aaron has been talking about in interviews. Great to see MM sending Finley in motion to try and create mismatches. Moreover, Finley was solid in his blocking. Great to see for this game, especially from a 22 year old TE.

- Speaking of TE, Lee actually looked much faster - whether it's because he is healthy or because Finley pushed him this off-season, it was great to see.

- O-line play: solid. There were holes to run through and pass protection was usually terrific.

- D-line: Did well. I'm not as surprised with Jolly's performance (I really like him as a player) but I was surprised that even Michael Montgomery had a solid performance.

- Run game was on. Pleasure to see.


NEGATIVES:
- WR routes: didn't see too many slants and quick outs, which our WRs do well. Much more down the field stuff - which is nice - but I do hope MM listens to his WRs and get them in situations where they can get the ball and then be in a position to do something afterword.

Although I must add that the above negative might just be a result of cutting back the playbook for pre-season games. MM said to expect about 33% of the playbook to be in effect this game, so perhaps some of the quick throws and slants were just left out.

- Penalties. Must improve in this area. Although I don't mind penalties for being too aggressive, we have to cut down on false starts. Some of the penalties seemed cheap calls (especially on the defense in the second Q.)



NOTE
- If yesterday's defensive plays were only about 33% of the D playbook then this defense in its entirety is going to be really impressive. The sheer possibility of different packages and pressures brings a tear to my eye.

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