The Green Bay Packers will close out the preseason Thursday night against the Saints and it certainly can’t be soon enough. The team has been ravaged by injuries and have played poorly the last two weeks in losses to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Ready or not, the Packers open the season at Chicago in 13 days.
Against Philly the Packers started a third string rookie QB due to injuries to three of their starting offensive lineman. Then on the third play wide receiver Randall Cobb gets hurt which in turn led to Davante Adams being taken out of the game. Amazingly, after a slow start Brett Hundley played quite well, throwing for over three hundred yards and a score.
Hundley and young receivers Jeff Janis, Ty Montgomery and Myles White were definitely bright spots in what was for the most part an ugly game. The Eagles rode roughshod over the Packers’ No. 1 defense which has to be somewhat concerning being preseason or not. Combine that with one of the poorest special teams’ performances I have ever seen and this game was over after 10 minutes of play.
Head coach Mike McCarthy’s move of firing Shawn Slocum and replacing him in-house with Ron Zook is looking like yet another bad move. For whatever reason McCarthy just can’t get special teams fixed and hiring a has-been like Zook because he’s a buddy has only made it worse. And don’t give me the excuse that he is working with a bunch of guys that might not be on the team in two weeks. It’s not rocket science, anybody with a lonely half brain can run down the field and tackle a guy. Zook, like Slocum is trying to make it rocket science and it ain’t working. Keep it simple, stupid.
Defensively the Packers are likely to be middle of the pack at best. With a young, untested secondary that could very well be starting a rookie cornerback, I just don’t see where they can get much better than last year. Maybe if Clay Matthews can stay healthy and rested and they somehow get another good year out of Julius Peppers they can be at least respectable.
The Packers could very well be a full strength against Chicago, not including Nelson, obviously, so there is no reason to get too upset over two poor preseason games. But you sure would like to see a little more positivity coming from the guys who may be called upon at some point during the season. Lets hope we get a little of that Thursday.