Packers Avoid Embarrassing Loss To Browns in OT, 27-21

It was a battle of two teams featuring two of the worst QBs this season, Brett Hundley and DeShone Kizer, and the Green Bay Packers almost let the winless Browns get the best of them. It took a team effort to struggle badly for the first three quarters, before every unit (including a big punt return from Trevor Davis on special teams) on the team contributed to the win. A lot of players deserve mention for turning it around (Davis, Davante Adams, Damarious Randall) but this was the play that set them up for the win.

Big play by Clay Matthews, captured by @jmatthe79: pic.twitter.com/irR3LVfEzd

— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) December 10, 2017

But it's depressing to even write about them having to come back. While the offense and defense eventually made the plays in the 4th quarter and OT that led to the win, those same two units led them into this deficit in the first place.

Hundley's day was statistically solid, but there was one stat that shows the problem; 5.8 ypa, which is about as bad as any quarterback is going to deliver. There was no vertical threat and the deep passes that were attempted were commonly thrown into double-coverage. Combine that a ground game that only produced 3.1 ypc, and early game struggles on 3rd down, and it led to an anemic offense for most of the game. The only quick fix to these problems is the return of Aaron Rodgers.

This quote summed up the current state of the defense:

The Packers’ pass rush was almost non-existent and defensive coordinator Dom Capers couldn’t blitz because of the coverage situation. Trying to win against the Panthers playing that way will be difficult.

The run defense got mauled too, but that's a lesser problem behind being unable to rush the passer and cover receivers. They can't do anything too aggressive to try and stop the passing game, instead they just play it pretty much straight with an ineffective 4-man rush and a mix of zone and press coverage (sometimes on the same play) to try and confuse the defense. If it's not confusing or slowing down DeShone Kizer, then I'm not sure who it's going to confuse.

Nothing would have been worse than a loss, but this win showcased all the things they haven't been able to do on offense or defense for most of the season.

2016 Packers Preseason Game Number One Preview: Browns at Lambeau

With the Packers' first preseason game off the books due to the massive incompetence at the annual Hall of Fame game, the Packers actual first preseason game of 2016 will be at Lambeau on Friday night against QB RGIII and his Cleveland Browns.

Packers. Browns. Friday night at @LambeauField.

Get ready for #CLEvsGB ➡️ https://t.co/hKiomUHL8t pic.twitter.com/o3yD8ghYCH

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) August 9, 2016

The big match-up will be everyone's first look at RGIII in a Browns uniform vs. whoever's playing at QB for the Packers. It won't be QB Brett Hundley, who's still unable to practice due to his injured ankle, and it won't be QB Aaron Rodgers either, who appears to be running the scout team this week. It'll be some combination of Joe Callahan and Marquise Williams, neither of whom I've ever seen play before, and I don't expect either one will be very good.

Rodgers used to play in the first half of their first preseason game, he played almost the entire first half last season in their preseason opener at New England, but he's played very little preseason football since WR Jordy Nelson's season ending knee injury last year in Pittsburgh. I don't think that's a coincidence, and I'm not sure whether Rodgers will play at all this preseason.

It's not like just any QB can step into the Packers' offense during the preseason either. There's been a lot of bad quarterback play from non-Rodgers QBs in recent years' preseason games. One example is any preseason game that involved QB Graham Harrell. So it should be expected that Callahan and Williams will struggle, which might make it difficult to properly evaluate anyone on offense.

On the defensive side, I'm expecting RGIII will have a big game. Not because he's going to find some magic potion in Cleveland with new head coach Hue Jackson by his side, but because the Packers play some extra vanilla defense during the preseason. In their 3rd preseason game of 2015, they hosted the Eagles and were shredded by QB Sam Bradford who went 10-for-10 with 121 yards, 3 TDs and a perfect QB rating against the Packers first team defense. The Packers have a very good defense, but they make a bum like Bradford look like an MVP during the preseason and RGIII should be able to do the same.

The players I'll be watching are the players on the bubble to see whether they can make some big plays against the back-ups. Is the hype surrounding ILB Blake Martinez for real? Can OLB Reggie Gilbert be the breakout, undrafted rookie free agent of 2016? Did the Packers find something in free agent OLB Lerentee McCray, who was buried on the depth chart in Denver? Some of those individual players might stand out while the Packers overall struggle with inexperience QBs and super vanilla defense.

Packers to Wear Throwback Uniforms Sunday

The Packers will wear throwback uniforms in Sunday's game against the Eagles, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tyler Dunne reports.

The jerseys, which are navy blue with a yellow circle in the center containing the player's number, will be accompanied by an all-yellow helmet. The Packers also wore those last year when they blew out the Browns in Jermichael Finley's infamous neck injury contest.  

In previous seasons, though, the Packers have usually stuck with the brown ones pictured above, which are meant to simulate old leather helmets. As Dunne notes, they first dawned the set in a 2010 meeting with the 49ers. 

Packers hire Steve Marshall as new Assistant OL Coach

Following the resignation of Joel Hilgenberg earlier this week, the Packers hired a new Assistant Offensive Line Coach in veteran Steve Marshall yesterday, NBC Sports.com's Mike Wilkening reports. 

Marshall, who served as the OL Coach at New Mexico State University last season, is no stranger to the NFL, as he has previously served positions in the league with Texans from 2002-2005 and the Browns from 2007-2008.

During that time in the pros, Marshall's Texans usually struggled pretty largely, averaging just 223.3 yards/game in 2002 (last in the NFL), 269.1 in 2003 (31st), 320.5 in 2004 (19th), and 253.3 in 2005 (30th). 

When he went to Cleveland that all at least somewhat changed, as the Browns put up a solid 351.3 yards/game in 2007 (8th) before dropping back down to 249.1 (last) the following year, but still, he was definitely consistently bad. In his defense, pretty much all of his career the club's he's helped coach have been bad (the Texans went just 18-46 and the Browns 14-18 during his tenures with them), and since those numbers did come with overall weak rosters you probably can't put their existing completely on him.

Former Packers QB Young to work out for Browns

I guess the Packers weren't so crazy last year after all. 

According to NFL.com Around the League Writer Dan Hanzus, the AFC North's Cleveland Browns, a team currently without a QB after getting rid of Brandon Weeden earlier this offseason, will give Free Agent veteran Vince Young a chance to work out during a minicamp session this week. Young, as you may or may not remember, briefly played for Green Bay during last year's preseason, nearly making the roster as the club's backup hurler before a week 4, 14 of 30 for 144 yards disaster in Kansas City made him get released.

Now since this guy hasn't played in a meaningful game since 2012 (when he uncontributively backed up for the "dream team" 8-8 Eagles before spending the 2012 preseason in Buffalo for some reason) and I was kind of routing for him last year, I'll go ahead and say I support him here. At age 30, the odds of him making the Browns, or any NFL or Canadien Football League team for that matter, are obviously pretty stacked against him, but still, it could definitely happen. I guess that's enough of a reason to pay attention to this.

Could the Packers make a run at Brandon Weeden?

Yesterday, as you might've heard, Browns QB Brandon Weeden made headlines around the sports world by saying that he wants to leave the team. Now of course, it's still likely that he won't actually get his wish, but hearing that story immediately made me wonder: could the Packers make a run at him, if he becomes available? The simple answer to that question: yea, they could.

Last season, Weeden had an awful QBR of 24.7, which, while terrible, was still 5.3 points higher than Matt Flynn's 19.4. So yea, in my opinion, Ted Thompson should at least check in on this guy. He could actually end up being the backup they've been looking for.

Finley expected to be ready for contact in 3-4 weeks

The Doctor of Packers TE Jermichael Finley, who hasn't done anything football-related since sustaining his week 7 neck injury, has said that he is "99.99%" sure that #88 will be cleared for contact in 3-4 weeks. Finley is currently recovering from his November surgery, and is reportedly hoping to return to the Packers next season. 

Now while this news is obviously a step in the right direction, I'm not gonna put too much emphasis on it. I mean, it's great to see him recovering and all, but still, it's just contact. He's stil nowhere near actually being ready to play.

Packers RBs coach Van Pelt to stay with team as QBs coach

Now that Ben McAdoo is officially gone, the Packers have decided to name their Running Backs coach of one year, Alex Van Pelt, their new QBs coach, NBCSports.com reports. Van Pelt played the position with the Bills from 1994-2003, so it's likely that he'll know what he's doing when the season comes around. 

Really, this is kinda surprising, since it was recently reported by multiple sources that, if the Browns hired Mike Pettine as their head coach, which they did yesterday, Van Pelt would likely becomes their OC, but I guess the two sides' plans must've changed. Because obviously, that's not happening anymore.