The fourth preseason game is always the worst one, and this was no exception. I didn't learn as much as I would've liked to, but here are some noteworthy facts/opinions:

Rodgers, Grant, Driver, and Woodson did not play. I didn't see Finley either.

Jason Chery fumbled the opening kickoff--twice. Hello, waiver wire. In fairness, he didn't fumble any more, and he had a couple of decent punt returns, but he doesn't look NFL ready at this point.

Sam Shields gave up a big completion early. Other than that, he didn't get mentioned much.

Hard to tell how well Justin Harrell played. The defensive line didn't look good overall.

Brett Swain played very well and probably locked down the #5 receiver spot. He does especially well on crossing routes.

Matt Flynn had a nice game after a sluggish start. Good mobility, good accuracy, good decision-making. He played into the fourth quarter and threw for about 300 yards.

Our long snapper Brett Goode left the game early after a blow to the head (he should be fine for the season opener), which made it harder to judge the punters because a couple of the snaps from Dietrich-Smith were off-target. Both punters looked mediocre, which means that Masthay should still have the advantage. Masthay also kicked off once and kicked it to the goal line with decent hang time.

Mason Crosby drilled three field goals but only got credit for two because one had to be rekicked after a penalty. He also executed a perfect onside kick that was recovered by the Packers.

T.J. Lang got torched once at left tackle.

Marshall Newhouse got torched at least once at left tackle and committed a stupid false start penalty on one of Crosby's field goal attempts. He may not make the roster.

Jarrett Bush had a good game, breaking up a pass and getting an interception as well as making some nice tackles. The interception was lucky, but he gets credit for hanging onto it. Bush may survive the roster cuts after all. It's hard to get excited about that. He's had a part in too many bad plays over the last few years.

Brady Poppinga gave up a couple of big plays when he was caught out of position.

I didn't see much from Zombo one way or another.

The backup WRs Dillon and Williams both looked very good except Dillon dropped a couple right at the end.

Graham Harell looked the part of the third string QB and practice squad candidate.

Quinn Johnson caught a pass, raising his preseason pass-catching percentage to 50% (2 for 4) and looked very good as a blocker once again.

Another good game for John Kuhn, including blocking two players at once on a pass play and making a couple of nice runs.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Not a very inspiring game, even by preseason standards.

---

Greg,

This was an exhibition game. It means nothing really when it comes to the roster next Sunday.

This post is so..... How do I put it in words? PERFECT!

Although it was a scrub game, I think your post was a regular season post.

Very informative, and educational. Indeed.

+ 1 to Greg.

Thanks for the read. Good stuff.

---

Goode was jacked up on the opening k/o

I believe he got beat twice... IMO he's not a LT in the NFL but seriously needs work before going to OT. He might fit in at RT... I'm not sure... currently he's not better than Dietrich-Smith, Breno and Barbre but given the rookie/young guy grading curve he still has a chance but if I was choosing the roster he wouldn't be in the top 9



I didn't see it set up but it looked like Johnson badly misses a run block on a run outside of the RT... I believe Kuhn was the RB. Johnson is a great rub blocking between the tackles, outside the tackles the defender has more wiggle room to avoid Johnson and he sometimes misses blocks...

Hall made a GREAT pass block against someone near the start of the game. My guess it was a blitzing LB or S as they weren't huge but he stopped them from going forward and then got lower and pushed them backwards.

I think they should keep all 3 FBs if they can...

Also I'm not sure Lumpkins is any better than Kuhn at RB.

---

I was impressed with Swain and Williams although I'm still wary of giving up a roster spot to a #5 WR. I'd be tempted to try and IR Swain and put Williams on the PS. Not sure if we can put Swain on IR but he showed enough ability to keep around, it's just he won't offer us anything this year.

Incredibly Bush may be a lock to make the 53 man roster. Without Harris and Underwood, Bush is the #4 CB (last night he played ahead of Pat Lee). He showed some instincts with his interception, can play special teams and even has some experience at safety. He probably gets cut when Harris is back but on Saturday I expect he makes it.

I thought Poppinga was poor but we don't really have much else at OLB. Apparently he had a good training camp but I'd be delighted if could trade him and free a spot up for a genuine OLB off waivers.

---

I think Hall is too good to cut and so is Kuhn. Quinn Johnson is such a limited player that I still think he is in danger of being cut. Beast makes a good point about him having a harder time blocking outside the tackles. He would be a better fit for a power running team, which the Packers are not.

It would've been nice to learn more about the TEs. Lee had one catch for one yard, I think. He got drilled as soon as he caught the ball. Quarless and Havner had one or two catches each. Crabtree got significant playing time, but I don't think he had a ball thrown his way.

The D-line was also hard to judge because they were switching players in and out so much.

Mike McCarthy said recently that this last preseason game is important because it is 25% of the preseason, and it is really more than that for a lot of these players because they get so much more playing time, but I tend to agree with RP that it won't have much bearing on the roster moves. I had the feeling that it was more important in terms of deciding which players they'll put on the practice squad. For example, an LB named Simpkins got a lot of playing time. I hadn't even heard of him.

I sure hope they don't have to put Swain on IR, as British suggested. Not many players can make it back from the wilderness of nearly two full years on IR. Pat Lee is the poster child for that right now. Hopefully Swain's knee injury is minor. It looked like he just banged it, rather than twisting it, and he did come back into the game (and caught a pass for a 77 yard gain).

---

(message deleted)

---

This was a great post, Greg, nice work! I do agree with RaiderPride that this won't carry over a whole lot into what we might be seeing next week, but the fact remains that football is a contact sport, and it is always good to know what we can expect to see from the backups. As far as receivers go, I am always happy to see how the backups are because ARod is so talented at sharing the ball around, so I definitely feel that they have a high probability to be used throughout the season. Lets just hope they aren't used due to injury. Thanks again for the post, well done.

---

This is great to hear, especially since we have Driver who has always been our quick slant guy, and he won't be with us after 2012, unless he has a major surge

---

Good to hear about Swain. I disagree with British and think we need a 5th WR. Bummer about Chery though. Hope we PS him and he develops into something later.

---