The Green Bay Packers will not go winless in the 2025 preseason, and it appears that the rumors of our demise were greatly exaggerated (if you had just been following along to a certain subsection of fans, you might have thought we lost both games by seventy).
There's a certain balance to be struck in the preseason, when deciding how much to care about performances. In the ultimate team game of football, it seems like preseason has a perfect storm of factors thrown around to muddy the waters. Are you resting starters? Are your opponents? Are you playing with scheme, or intention? Is your opponent? There's a lot to try to sort through when examining a team or an individual's performance in the preseason, but because we love each and every one one of you, Cheesehead TV is here to do it.
Despite numerous reports that the Packers' pass rush dominated the Colts offensive line during joint practice on Thursday (to the tune of ten reported sacks, many by Lukas Van Ness, who continues to stack success) that did not translate well into Saturday's game. Now, obviously Green Bay's pass rushers did not play Saturday, and it was not until the Colts' first team was done that the Packers began to get stops against Indianapolis. This is actually in parallel to the second team's performance last week as well, where despite giving up points early to the Jets and Colts, opposing offenses were stunted in the second half (six points for the Colts, thirteen against the Jets). I thought the team tackled well, rallied to the football, and we even saw some attempts to strip the ball away that we were missing last week.
Offensively... well. The second half was a much cleaner product, but going into halftime the offense looked to be repeating the undisciplined habits highlighted in the game against New York. The team saved a lot of face with their comeback win on Saturday night, even with the lower stakes inherently involved.
4th down Aggressiveness
The Packers were a perfect four for four on fourth down conversion attempts on Saturday night, adding onto their one for one mark against the Jets in week one. Those five successful conversions are already more than half of what the team converted for the entire 2024 season altogether (eight of sixteen). Not only is this newfound aggressiveness exactly what I and others have been advocating for in terms of volume, I loved the situational aggressiveness, including the decision during the game winning drive to go on fourth, even in field goal range. While the Packers were around league average in successful fourth down conversions last season, they were well below in actual attempts, and I hope we are seeing a real preview of things to come.
Second Half Perseverance
Speaking of hopeful previews, what a performance by the second and third team players to claw their way back into a game that looked to quickly be going the way of week one. The signs were all there for another lame duck performance, including an absolutely astonishing eleven penalties in the first half, three of which occurred on the packers first scoring drive. In the second half, the team rallied to play smart, mistake free football. One penalty and no turnovers in the second half was the headline, and whatever halftime speech (or halftime rant, more likely) Matt LaFluer gave, it worked.
RB Depth
Despite some turbulence this preseason, if there is a positional group that has earned a blue ribbon, it may just be the running backs.The team was once again elevated by the pair of undrafted free agents in Isreal Abandikanda and Amar Johnson, who each scored touchdowns along the way in Saturday's comeback win, and both should have little problem finding their way onto a spot post roster cutdown day, whether in Green Bay or elsewhere. I thought Abandikanda was great on kickoff returns again, though I do wonder who that duty will fall to if he doesn't make the 53 man team. Marshawn Lloyd was back there with him, in a coming out party for the second year man from USC. The Packers were clearly trying to get Lloyd as many ball touches as they could whether it was on those kickoff returns, to passes, rushes, and a few blocking opportunities (hopefully his hamstring tightness won't prevent another appearance in game 3). Emmanuel Wilson had that big 32 yard reception to set up points at the end of the half as well.
Penalties
While it's all well and good that the team was able to climb out of the hole that they dug themselves via penalties this week, there's still no excuse for the extent of that hole. Again, eleven penalties in the first half, and twelve across the entire game, is completely inexcusable, especially for a team whose coach emphasized the importance of attention to detail and fundamentals during this season's opening press conference. If his chewing out of rookie Anthony Belton, as the team left the field after the first half, is anything to draw from he's just as upset as we are. To be fair it was a sloppy day all around at Lucas Oil Stadium, with the Colts drawing eleven penalties of their own, meaning both teams were still feeling the preseason rust.
OL Depth
I and others have been on record that the Packers have a major strength in the form of their offensive line depth. Before training camp began it was easy to look at the depth chart and call them eight or nine solid players deep. Weeks later we now find ourselves short one Travis Glover for the year (who was having an excellent training camp), and major questions surrounding Donovan Jennings, Jacob Monk and Kadeem Telfort. Jordan Morgan has had a solid pair of games at LT for this team, but there's still alot to sort out behind the presumed starting five of Walker-Banks-Jenkins-Rhyan-Tom. Frankly, none of the backups behind Belton and Morgan should feel particularly secure, and I'd love for the team to consider some outside options for depth.
Mounting Rookie Injuries
Much has been made of the Packers unusually high injury numbers this preseason (sitting an astonishing 29 players for this game), but I'm beginning to feel a certain creeping concern that Green Bay could once again be seeing a number of medical redshirt seasons this year. After Morgan, Lloyd, Oladapo and Hopper missed significant time last year, the timeline to prevent this fate for rookies Collin Oliver, Savion Williams and John Williams is fast approaching or already done. For rookies to get acclimated to the NFL, preseason reps are so incredibly invaluable, doubly so for raw prospects like Oliver and Williams, and I wonder if that deadline may have unfortunately already passed.
-- Despite the rough first half, I thought the best thing the Packers could have done for the young tackle Anthony Belton was exactly what they did: let him play it out. It's indicative of the way they've been treating him throughout all of preseason, and I think it's clear that the coaching staff learned a lesson after the way Jordan Morgan was perhaps given too much on his plate last offseason. Morgan (who had another excellent game at left tackle) was played last year at LT, RT, LG and RG, and was probably the worse for it. The Packers seem content to let Belton "fail" at tackle before potentially moving him to guard, and I appreciated that the team let him play through a rough game, but kept him in to begin the second half as well. Belton responded with a much better performance, including a key block on a touchdown run.
-- Despite being halfway through the preseason now, doesn't it feel a bit odd that few of these "roster bubble" battles seem very settled? John Fitzpatrick has surely nudged himself in front of Ben Simms for the TE3 spot, but is that it? As just discussed, the offensive line rotation is murkier than ever before, but so is the battle at wide receiver. After a good showing against the Jets, none of Colby Wooden, Warren Brinson or Nazir Stackhouse differentiated themselves on Saturday, and we can throw in the Isiah Simmons/Christian Welch and Melton/King/Hadden corner back spot as being too close to call. Roster cut down day looks to be presenting the front office with a handful of tough decisions, but special teams and injuries may be the final say in the winners and losers.
-- I'd like us all to take a quick trip in the time machine, back exactly one year. The Packers had just gotten their clock cleaned by the Broncos in Denver (a game which I was unfortunately present for), and they were facing massive uncertainty at two crucial positions: kicker and backup quarterback. Can we take a moment to appreciate how improved those situations are? It's well documented how the Packers likely don't make the playoffs without Malik Willis last season, but Sean Clifford looks so much more poised this preseason than last, plus the team's exciting mystery box in Candian QB Taylor Elgersma. And then there's the man himself, Brandon McManus. Who knows how different the win/loss column would look without his addition, last year, but the first game that comes to mind was McManus's first with the team: that home game against the Texans, won by a last second field goal. GM Brian Gutekunst and his pro scouting personnel earned themselves a couple of A+ grades with that pair of transactions last year.