R&R – Rants and Raves: Packers vs Patriots

The Packers WIN Yay!

Actually the pre-season is more about evaluation than wins/losses so lets look at a few good things they did in the game:

Raves

The Packers’ first-team offense ran 32 plays in first quarter with 161 total yards and Rodgers going 11-19 for 117 yards, Lacy looked like a beast as he broke a run up the middle to start the pre-season right where he left off last year. I liked the play calling with them going for it on 4th downs early even if they didn’t score at least they are showing some aggression. I liked what I saw from the starters.
Tolzien took over in the second quarter on his second series he put together a scoring drive hitting TE Justin Perillo on a 3rd down dart and later hit Jeff Janis for a 26 yard TD, Janis beat Logan Ryan whom should be the Patriots starting corner this year so by putting two steps on him is a high note for him making a bid for the #4 or #5 receiver spot.

As for the 3rd spot at RB Harris averaged 5.9 yards a carry on seven attempts for 41 yards which included a 25-yard run for a touchdown, Crockett had 10 carries for 26 yards and a receiving touchdown, and Neal had four carries for 15 yards.

On the defensive side the young players looked good for their first game, Rollins really impressed me with his coverage and Jake Ryan along with Carl Bradford step up their bid for the ILB position with stellar run stopping from Ryan and a above average pass rush from Bradford, D. Jones looked good for a change along with Boyd, Pennel, Hubbard and company they played better than expected for the first game.

Rants

I only have a few rants for this game while there is a lot they need to work on with fundamentals, for the most part the team played well. Bakhtiari was getting beat way too much and needs to step up his game. Barclay looked like a rookie RT coming off his ACL injury either he has lost a step or he doesn’t trust the knee yet but which ever it is he is in danger of losing his back up spot to Rotheram who was every bit as good as expected. Other than that the 1st, 2nd and even 3rd stringers on offense looked sharp, On the defense Clinton-Dix did not have his best game he looked out of place on several plays and blew it on the 55 yard TD run by the Patriots in the second quarter with a missed tackle.

McCarthy said the special teams will be better this year but I was not impressed with the coverage. Janis could have had a blocked punt if he took the right angle to the ball he was a yard past the punter when he kicked it.

But as I said, not too much to rant about so let Packer nation know your thought in comments below or on our FB fanpage.

Thank you, Jeff

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