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Rodgers not excited about Packers early home-heavy schedule

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Starting with this week’s home game against the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers will play 5 of the next 6 games at the friendly confines.  Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he’s not thrilled with the home heavy schedule because those games could be best served later in the season when the temperature dips below freezing.

“Being an elder statesman,” Rodgers said, “You’d like it to be the opposite.  You’d like it to be the stretch run, five of six at home, as cold as possible, under 32 (degrees) and make some of these teams come play us.”

Now the Packers will finish with a heavy road schedule, which means they need to make hay early.

The Packers will host Denver a week from Sunday, followed by a quick turn-around against the Philadelphia Eagles the following Thursday night.  After a trip to Dallas the following week, the Packers return home to face Detroit and Oakland.  That’s five home games in seven weeks.  After that, the Packers will be forced to play six of their final nine games away from Lambeau Field.

AUDIO: Aaron Rodgers not a fan of 5 of 6 at home right now :16

 

 

Defense dominates in Packers 10-3 season opening win

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Mike Pettine and his defense was the star of the night

Players and coaches weren’t willing to concede that no playing time in the preseason is the reason why offenses struggled on opening night, but the defenses dominated and the Green Bay Packers did just enough to pull out a 10-3 win on Thursday night at Soldiers Field.

The hope was that Mike Pettine’s second year defense, along with a number of key free agent acquisitions, would be much improved.  Last night, the Packers defense was bordering greatness in the season opener.

It might take the Packers offense a while to figure things out in Matt LaFleur’s new system, but based on Thursday night’s defensive effort, there’ll be a little margin for error.

But one has to wonder how much of last night’s defensive display had to do with the defense itself, as compared to a terrible night for Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who went 26-45 for 228 yards, an [Read more…]

Sternberger to Injured reserve, Packers sign Lazard to active roster

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Allen Lazard

The Green Bay Packers placed third round draft pick, wide receiver Jace Sternberger on injured reserve this week.  Sternberger injured his left ankle in the final preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs last Thursday and has been in a walking boot this week.

Because Sternberger was on the initial 53-man roster, he will be eligible to return after eight weeks.

The Packers used the roster spot to sign wide receiver Allen Lazard off of the team’s practice squad.  The 6’5 Lazard caught six passes for 114 yards and one touchdown.

Lazard was originally signed as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa State by the Jacksonville Jaguars on May 11, 2018.  He spent most of last season on the Jaguars’ practice squad.  Lazard was signed to the Packers’ active roster from Jacksonville’s practice squad on Dec. 18, 2018, and made his NFL debut against the Detroit Lions in Week 17.

Lazard appeared in 48 games for the Cyclones, finishing as the school’s career leader in receptions (241), receiving yards (3,360) and 100-yard receiving games (12).  Lazard earned first-team All-Big 12 honors in both 2016 and 2017.

 

Packers add 10 players to practice squad on Sunday

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Brian Gutekunst

The Green Bay Packers signed 10 players to their practice squad on Sunday, all 10 were with the Packers during the 2019 preseason.

Added to the teams practice squad are:  TE Evan Baylis, RB Tra Carson, CB Kabion Ento, WR Allen Lazard, DL James Looney, T Yosh Nijman, LB Randy Ramsey, LB Brady Sheldon, WR Malik Taylor and QB Manny Wilkins.

The transactions were announced Sunday by Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst.

 

Packers trim to 53, pick Boyle as backup quarterback

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Sam Ficken loses the kicking battle with Mason Crosby in Training Camp

The Green Bay Packers unveiled their initial 53-man roster on Saturday by trimming their roster to 53-players.

The Packers will carry only two quarterbacks, handing Aaron Rodgers backup job to Tim Boyle.  Boyle finished the preseason by completing 34 of 57 passes for 356 yards.  He threw six touchdown passes with no interceptions and a passer rating of 112.9.

Those numbers were considerably better than the numbers DeShone Kizer put up, 273 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions with a passer rating of 70.  Kizer, who was obtained from Cleveland last year for defensive back Damarious Randall, was released.

The Packers also held on to undrafted rookie wide receiver Darrius Shepherd, parting ways with second year receivers J’Mon Moore and Allen Lazard.  They placed Equanimeous St. Brown on injured reserve Saturday, which means he is out for the season. [Read more…]

Packers send Gilbert to Titans

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Reggie Gilbert

On the eve of the final preseason game, the Green Bay Packers send third-year outside linebacker Reggie Gilbert to the Tennessee Titans for a 7th round draft pick.

Gilbert made the Packers roster as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona in 2016.  He went on to play in 18 games, tallying 3.5 sacks for the Packers.

The Packers added to the position with the free agent signings of Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, as well as drafting Rashan Gary out of Michigan in the first round of the draft.  Those moves meant a loaded outside linebacker position, making Gilbert expendable.

The Packers close out the preseason against the Kansas City Chiefs tonight at Lambeau Field.  They must trim their roster to 53-players by 3 p.m. on Saturday.

 

Packers make roster moves

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Packers return to practice on Sunday.

With a couple of practices left before Thursday nights preseason finale against Kansas City, the Green Bay Packers made some roster moves.

The Packers had three roster spots open and claimed inside linebacker Nicolas Grigsby, who has played in 23 games in four NFL seasons, mostly as a special teams performer.

It’s possible Oren Burks could be back for the season opener against the Chicago Bears, but it’s unlikely he would play a lot after missing time with a chest injury.  Curtis Bolton had been playing in Burks place but suffered a knee injury in last Thursday’s game against the Raiders in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Blake Martinez is the starter at one inside linebacker spot and rookie Ty Summers and first-year pro Brady Sheldon remain as the top options if Burks can’t return in time.

The Packers also signed a pair of undrafted rookie free agents, linebacker James Folston and defensive back Jocquez Kalili.

Folston has had short stints with Arizona and Tennessee before joining the Packers.  Kalili signed with Jacksonville on May 12th and was released on August 4.

Packers parting company with Jones

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Josh Jones

Green Bay safety Josh Jones announced on Twitter Sunday morning that he is being released by the Packers.  Jones was the team’s second-round draft pick in the 2017 NFL draft and had sat out much of the off-season program after requesting a trade.

Jones hadn’t practiced since August 11 because of an illness.  He started five of the Packers last six games in 2018, finishing sixth in tackles with 60.

The Packers used Jones as a hybrid linebacker in 2018, but Jones said he didn’t consider himself a linebacker and wanted to play safety.

Jones had fallen behind Adrian Amos, Darnell Savage and Raven Greene.  Eventually even the play of free agents Will Redmond and Chandon Sullivan has dropped Jones further out of sight and out of mind.

The Packers will gain about $300,000 in salary cap space as a result of his release.

 

Packers go with backups in exhibition loss to Raiders

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Aaron Rodgers File Photo

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said he had planned to play his starters in last night’s third preseason game against the Oakland Raiders in Winnipeg.  However, field turf issues in each end zone saw both teams remove their starters from any playing consideration, meaning this game would be decided by the backups.

Tim Boyle led the Packers to three straight touchdown drives in the second quarter, throwing touchdown passes to Trevor Davis and Jake Kumerow, finishing 16 of 25 for 191 yards.  The Packers took a 21-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.  But the Raiders scored all 12-points in the second half, including a last second 33-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson, lifting Oakland to a 22-21 victory over the Packers (1-2).

Both teams weren’t satisfied with the condition of the field after the Canadian Football League goalposts left big holes that needed to be filled.  So they agreed to shorten the field to 80-yards and eliminated kickoffs for the game.  It meant the 10-yard line would now represent the new goal lines and the real [Read more…]

Rodgers is day-to-day with back tightness

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Aaron Rodgers

After Aaron Rodgers was held out of last Thursday’s preseason game at Baltimore because of back tightness, the Packers quarterback was held out of practice on Sunday for precautionary reasons.

The Packers are getting ready for Thursday’s preseason game against the Oakland Raiders on Thursday in Winnipeg, Manitoba and if it were a regular season game, it’s likely Rodgers would be on the practice field.  But when it’s preseason, coach Matt LaFleur said, “It wasn’t worth it.”

“You know, I think that he’s gotten a lot of great work in,” LaFleur said.  “You’d like to get him some game action.  Again, he’s a veteran guy that’s played a lot of football.  I mean, 14 years in the league.  There’s not much that he hasn’t seen.  So it’s not overly concerning to me.”

When asked if Rodgers would play against Kansas City in the August 29th preseason finale, LaFleur was non-committal. [Read more…]