It was an ugly night for the Green Bay Packers last night. They were blown out by the Denver Broncos 27-2 in the second preseason game in Denver. The Packers fell to 1-1 in the preseason. Green Bay was without 31 players, including most of their starters while Denver played their starters. They are in the middle of building their culture so it is not a surprise starters played a chunk of the first half. Here are some takeaways from last night’s loss.
The Green Bay Packers Might Have a Backup Quarterback Issue
It is still unknown if the Green Bay Packers will keep three quarterbacks or if either Sean Clifford or Michael Pratt will be cut at the end of training camp. Jordan Love did not play last night so the two young signal callers split halves. Clifford got the first half while Pratt took the second.
Clifford has continued to turn the ball over. After struggling last week in camp, Clifford threw a bad interception last in the second half. The Green Bay Packers pride themselves in quarterbacks taking care of the call. Clifford has done a good job doing that in training camp. Overall, he finished the night 6-10 for 43 yards and an interception.
Michael Pratt had a great chance to potentially take over the backup job. He did not take advantage of a golden opportunity. Pratt ended the night 10-16 for 52 yards. He also had a seven yard rush. There was too many throws where Pratt used his arm strength when he needed to be accurate instead.
Very Few Players Had a Decent Night
Only three players I thought had decent night. That was Kristian Welch, Ty’Ron Hopper, and Brenton Cox.
Hopper, making his preseason debut, led the team with 11 tackles. While he was all over the field, he did give receivers a lot of room in front of him. The Broncos noticed it and receivers sat in the open space Hopper gave them. I did like that as soon as the ball was caught Hopper didn’t miss the tackle. There is a long way to go for Hopper, but he showed flashes.
Kristian Welch took advantage of the opportunity last night and is making his case to make the 53 man roster. He had six tackles last night and the lone interception. Welch spent time with the Green Bay Packers last season as well.
Brenton Cox has had a slow training camp, but he forced the quick throw that led the Welch’s interception. He is young player with such raw talent. Last night we saw the really good flashes from Cox.
A Cause for Concern?
I will say this as I said in my game preview: the end result doesn’t matter. Overall, the Green Bay Packers came out of this game relatively healthy again. That is goal number one. Barring anything crazy over the next week, this will be a healthy team coming into week 1 of the regular season.
It is also fair to be a little concerned about this performance. It was clear the Packers got beat by the Broncos in the joint practice on Friday, You would have thought they would have responded better last night. I can’t remember a game that brutal.
It was the Packers second and third string players against Denver’s starters most of the first half. That is important to note. Matt LaFleur was clearly not happy after the game. They need to respond fast with Baltimore coming into Green Bay for a joint practice Thursday, They are better and more physical than the Broncos defense.
No Position Battles Answered
I was really hoping some position battles would have been answered last night, but it wasn’t, especially backup quarterback, kicker, and offensive line. I already mentioned the backup quarterback so I won’t go into that.
Kicker is probably the top position battle in Green Bay Packers camp right now. We only saw Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph once each. Carlson kicked off to begin the second half, while Joseph missed a 47 yard field goal pretty bad to the right. It’s been a rough week for Joseph, who I think had a great shot to win this job. It feels like it is moving towards Carlson now.
I did think Andre Dillard was solid at left tackle. It seems like he is close to locking up a backup role with Sean Rhyan and Jacob Monk. I also thought Kadeem Telfort struggled most of the night at right tackle. He was consistently pushed back towards the quarterback. Rookie Travis Glover received some reps at tackle and he had a rough night as well.
It also feels like the Royce Newman era is over or needs to be over. He played the entire game at guard and struggled moving players all night. I don’t see a way he makes the roster.
