First of all, the Packers’ new practice facility is absolutely beautiful. With the Resch Center on the north end and the grandstands on the east side of the field, my view from the south was awesome. I could have gotten into the stands had I wanted to but standing by the fence was just as good as the Packers quarterbacks and receivers worked right in front of me during the hour I was there. The field is absolutely perfect and the large scoreboard makes it game-like conditions during 11-on-11 drills. If there is a better practice field in the NFL I haven’t seen coverage of it. Like Lambeau Field, it is second to none.
I didn’t see a lot of practice but the display Aaron Rodgers put on was borderline ridiculous. In a drill where the quarterback takes a snap from center and drops back and throws to a basket along the sidelines Rodgers dropped in three in a row, longer throws each of the second two. The crowd went crazy and after the second one Rodgers gave a Tiger Woods uppercut that really pumped up the fans. I thought I heard the guy say 46 yards before Rodgers drilled his last one which was prompted another fist pump. Rodgers is going to take his place among the top quarterbacks in the NFL this year and may take the Packers’ passing game to levels not seen since the James Lofton, John Jefferson and Paul Coffman years.
Rodgers is just deadly with the deep ball, which is what made Lynn Dickey so good throwing to the aforementioned receiving combo. Rodgers would have fit in perfectly with the real Al Davis and Oakland Raiders who must always “go vertical” whether they can or not. I bet the California native Rodgers might not have minded playing their either. He could have been the new Mad Bomber. But Rodgers wound up in Green Bay and his three years of backing up Brett Favre were spent working hard knowing he was going to be the guy in due time. Now that he is that guy, he is just going to get better and better providing he doesn’t get hurt. Packers’ fans have to feel blessed to have back-to-back franchise quarterbacks this good. Simply amazing.
And after watching Rodgers, Matt Flynn and Brian Brohm looked absolutely pitiful. Not sure I even saw a spiral and nothing even close to dunking one in the net. The Packers need Mike Vick and the sooner the better. If anybody can turn Vick into a west coast offense quarterback it is Mike McCarthy. Packers’ president Mark Murphy made it sound like the Packers weren’t interested, but like general manager Ted Thompson, didn’t completely close the door. I’m not going to get into the character argument because I don’t care. I don’t want choir boys, I want game winners. The man did his time.
I’m definitely going to make the two mile trek back to practice a few more times this summer. This is sweet, and what I see on the field was even more impressive.