Game 2 Review:

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

Aaron Rodgers: Missed two throws tonight but was great as always. Think Jennings misses him yet?

Eddie Lacy: My Goodness. Just knocks people over, takes more than one guy to bring him down and has some nice moves. Will earn the starting job soon and when he does, watch out. Can attack defense first with the pass and as Nagler pointed out when it is late in the game, Lacy will just punish the opposing defense.

Jermichael Finley: New attitude, contract year, and maturing. We are seeing a different player and he can be dangerous. We saw that tonight, just another weapon for this offense.

David Bakhtiari: Gave up the sack by Quinn and will learn from that, but really has played well when he is in. Has earned the starting job and will only get better from here.

Micah Hyde: LOVE him. He is a force stopping the run and coming off the edge. We saw him give up that big play to Givens, was very good rest of the way. He has passed Bush and House on the depth chart

Johnny Jolly: Player of the Game. His pass deflection forced the first turnover and when Rams had the ball and were ready to score, he got his own interception. Has earned a roster spot

 

[LambeauLegs]

Jolly had a great night he stuffed some runs had a sack I think and when he tipped that pass it looked like the Jolly of old. Then ended it with an interception and a spin move. he better be on the team

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

Jolly had a great night he stuffed some runs had a sack I think and when he tipped that pass it looked like the Jolly of old. Then ended it with an interception and a spin move. he better be on the team

I think before tonight his status was up in the air, that changed tonight. He will be a Packer

 

[Tainthappening]

Good game for the Packers, definitely looked sharper tonight.

Packers first string offense looked very good, just need to finish with TDs, but MM said in postgame he took "ball out of Rodgers hands a few times" as he must have wanted to evaluate something. Biggest positives were Lacy running the ball and Finley downfield... if both of those continue in regular season offense will put up big numbers.

Jolly had very good game, batted ball was huge, interception and couple good penetrations on run defense.

Hyde got beat deep.. but he is not a speedster. Had good coverage on most other plays, but his strong point is tackling... he is great tackling DB.. stopped Austin 1 on 1 at 2 yard line and had sack with great wrap up and couple great tackles on runs. He just looks like a football player right now and could be draft steal. Also had decent punt return.

Packers 1st string defense lacked pass rush... Packers 2nd and 3rd stringers man-handled Rams QBs. Packers rush defense again looked strong on 1st string.

Bakhtiari gave up sack and had penalty... still has lot to learn, but for 4th round pick at LT still doing OK.

 

[ForkEmBucky]

Jolly making a comeback would be THEE greatest thing to happen to this team since Jenkins came back and brought our defense the extra punch they needed for the Super Bowl run.

 

[fastforward]

The Rams were 2nd best the whole game.

 

[iowajerms]

Aaron Rodgers: Missed two throws tonight but was great as always. Think Jennings misses him yet?

Eddie Lacy: My Goodness. Just knocks people over, takes more than one guy to bring him down and has some nice moves. Will earn the starting job soon and when he does, watch out. Can attack defense first with the pass and as Nagler pointed out when it is late in the game, Lacy will just punish the opposing defense.

Jermichael Finley: New attitude, contract year, and maturing. We are seeing a different player and he can be dangerous. We saw that tonight, just another weapon for this offense.

David Bakhtiari: Gave up the sack by Quinn and will learn from that, but really has played well when he is in. Has earned the starting job and will only get better from here.

Micah Hyde: LOVE him. He is a force stopping the run and coming off the edge. We saw him give up that big play to Givens, was very good rest of the way. He has passed Bush and House on the depth chart

Johnny Jolly: Player of the Game. His pass deflection forced the first turnover and when Rams had the ball and were ready to score, he got his own interception. Has earned a roster spot

He is the only reason I watch GB this preseason. When he was at Iowa, I always thought he was overrated. I did always like him but thought he got way too much hype. I am glad he's doing as good as he is.

 

[brian mclaren]

i think the packers might be ready to beat detroit but doubt they could handle the bears or vikings

 

[LoftonPack80]

i think the packers might be ready to beat detroit but doubt they could handle the bears or vikings

I think you might be ready to post on Facebook but not on an intelligent board with football discussion.

 

[Pushn40]

Glad this was just a pre-season game. Sloppy, but glad there were a few shining moments. Lacy will be a great addition to this team, as will Hyde and the return of Jolly. The D had a tough time getting penetration in the first half, but played the run fairly well. The Rams D-line was pushing our O-line back pretty good - as was GB's defense in the second half. GB's third string D-backs like Smith probably won't mark this team - awful couple of plays at the end. Satisfied with the progress from last week, but GB's red-zone offense needs to step it up one more notch. Not bad (at least GB got a bunch of field goals), but they need to convert those opportunities into TD's. Crosby is responding to the pressure of the kicking contest - it'll be interesting to see how the final two games play out.

All in all not bad, but too many penalties and a few missed opportunities. Not much different from what we're used to seeing, but there's reason to hope, especially with some of the new guys stepping up nicely. Hopefully our injured stars won't suffer too much from missing so much preseason action, and can step into the lineup in game-shape at the start of the season.

 

[Mondio]

I'm happy to say it appears I was wrong on Lacey and wrong on Jolly. I wasn't exactly excited by the Lacey pick and though Franklin offered us more. Normally I don't jump to conclusions, but assuming he stays healthy I can say I was completely wrong on that assesment. Lacey is the real deal.

and Jolly, didn't think he'd be in any shape to play football. as long as he keeps playing this way, no doubt he makes the team and makes an impact this year. I'm very happy to say it appears I was wrong on him as well. I hope he keeps proving me an idiot all year long

 

[Mondio]

It also appears I don't know how to spell Lacy's last name either, but I'm working on it.

 

[Jedster]

i think the packers might be ready to beat detroit but doubt they could handle the bears or vikings

I am still amazed that you can work a keyboard!

 

[alldaybaby55]

I am still amazed that you can work a keyboard!

When a chimp pounds on a keyboard long enough, eventually some words will form.

 

[alldaybaby55]

It was nice to see Lacy run hard and hit the holes that were there. I'm becoming more and more confident that the line was doing a decent job, but that we just didn't have backs that could find a damn hole. Alex Green...good luck to you wherever you end up this year.

Hyde got burned once (by one of the league's fastest receivers, I might add) but he continues to look like a steal.

I cheered my ass off when Johnny Jolly picked off that pass. So good to see. He certainly looks like he's taken his second (or 3rd or 4th or whatever) chance seriously, and I'd guess he's a pretty good bet to make the roster. I dunno about "lock" but pretty good bet.

I also thought Bostic played well. he's got a chance to stick, as I think D.J. Williams could be on his way out the door.

 

[Trudem]

Williams isnt going anywhere with Finley in his last year and Williams has turned into a great blocking TE.

 

[packfancjh]

If Finley has a solid year do be surprised to see a long term contract thrown on the table. I'm happy to see Hayward and Jones back at practice today

 

[Tainthappening]

Williams isnt going anywhere with Finley in his last year and Williams has turned into a great blocking TE.

This game he did not show it in 2nd series... allowed his guy to move right down the line twice to tackle Lacy who had some running lanes up the middle for good yardage if Williams makes his blocks.

Williams may also be leading all with drops in the preseason... has at least 3 I remember (one that killed a drive in first preseason game).

I also agree he could be on outside looking in.

 

[Tainthappening]

Glad this was just a pre-season game. Sloppy, but glad there were a few shining moments. Lacy will be a great addition to this team, as will Hyde and the return of Jolly. The D had a tough time getting penetration in the first half, but played the run fairly well. The Rams D-line was pushing our O-line back pretty good - as was GB's defense in the second half. GB's third string D-backs like Smith probably won't mark this team - awful couple of plays at the end. Satisfied with the progress from last week, but GB's red-zone offense needs to step it up one more notch. Not bad (at least GB got a bunch of field goals), but they need to convert those opportunities into TD's. Crosby is responding to the pressure of the kicking contest - it'll be interesting to see how the final two games play out.

All in all not bad, but too many penalties and a few missed opportunities. Not much different from what we're used to seeing, but there's reason to hope, especially with some of the new guys stepping up nicely. Hopefully our injured stars won't suffer too much from missing so much preseason action, and can step into the lineup in game-shape at the start of the season.

Red Zone Offense - MM said in his post game press conference he took the ball out of Rodgers hands a few times so could evaluate some plays... I would bet some of those plays were the red zone short yardage plays and he did not allow Rodgers to audible. Also the Finley holding call to negate the 1st down on 3rd and 1 was bogus... I rewatched play and was not holding. I am not worried about red zone offense if Lacy can do that during regular season.

Preseason games are more sloppy as you have many more players and many that will not be on the team.

Overall game was big step forward... only negative I could think of was the pass rush of 1st string. But Jones is still out and still missing 2 of the top cornerbacks.

 

[Pushn40]

Red Zone Offense - MM said in his post game press conference he took the ball out of Rodgers hands a few times so could evaluate some plays... I would bet some of those plays were the red zone short yardage plays and he did not allow Rodgers to audible. Also the Finley holding call to negate the 1st down on 3rd and 1 was bogus... I rewatched play and was not holding. I am not worried about red zone offense if Lacy can do that during regular season.

Preseason games are more sloppy as you have many more players and many that will not be on the team.

Overall game was big step forward... only negative I could think of was the pass rush of 1st string. But Jones is still out and still missing 2 of the top cornerbacks.

As I like to remind folks (including myself) during pre-season, don't get too bummed out if the team doesn't look tight and tuned, and don't overreact and get too hyped up if the team looks really solid. Too many people overreact to preseason games (like I used to do), and we just have to remember that there's a lot going on during these games that we as fans obviously aren't privvy to with regard to player evaluations and running vanilla schemes.

As I stated earlier in this thread, overall, I'm pretty satisfied with what I've seen and I'm not going to start worrying about stuff until a couple of games into the regular season. I'm more worried about how our key players, who are currently out with injuries, will respond when they get back into the lineup. Missing a lot of key practice time in the pre-season is a concern, mostly due to not being able to stay in physical shape while nursing an injury. It's like training for a marathon - kinda sucks getting a nagging injury a month before the race, and you're unable to run or really stay in physical shape. That being said, these are elite athletes who are young and have a tendency to bounce back quicker from some down-time.