Packer Central

Here’s What Happened at Packers Family Night

What young player stole the show at Packers Family Night on Saturday? Here’s what you need to know about the 10th practice of training camp.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love and his fiancée, Ronika Stone, watch a fireworks show at Family Night.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love and his fiancée, Ronika Stone, watch a fireworks show at Family Night. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The 60,000 fans at Lambeau Field for Family Night on Saturday witnessed what everyone else had seen during a typical training camp practice at Ray Nitschke Field.

The Packers’ defense could be really good. The offense could be a work in progress.

Here’s everything you need to know about Family Night, the 10th practice of Packers training camp.

Jordan Love’s Day

Coming off a big-time debut season and fresh off a record contract extension, Jordan Love ran onto the field to a roar from the fans.

During the opening one-on-ones, Love threw touchdown bombs to Jayden Reed (against Kalen King) and Christian Watson (against Jaire Alexander).

The rest of the night wasn’t so hot. Coming off strong practices on Wednesday and Thursday, Love was 11-of-22 passing during 11-on-11 periods. He opened the night with a 20-yard completion to Watson. Later, he threw a couple touchdown passes to Romeo Doubs during a red-zone period. On the other hand, he almost threw a pair of interceptions to rookie safety Javon Bullard.

One of Love’s incompletions was a deep seam shot to Watson. In a similar situation at Thursday’s practice, Love threw a dime – the ball whistling over linebacker Quay Walker’s shoulder and in front of two safeties – to Watson for a big gain. He tried it again on Saturday. Love’s ball on third-and-8 was broken up by safety Evan Williams. Williams and Watson collided; Watson was slow to get up but was fine.

Was it a dangerous pass?

“I think the practice is a great time to test what you can do,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I think sometimes you have to experiment out there and be a little bit more aggressive. It’s still trying to read within the timing of the play and making sure the mechanics and all that are on par. I think there’s opportunities there where you can be a little more aggressive with your decision-making.”

Player of the Day

There will be plenty of quality tape for the coaches to break down from Saturday, but perhaps the most exciting moment from the 10th practice of training camp was a boy from a Waupun youth football team catching three consecutive punts – the second with the first football in his hands and the third with the other two footballs in his hands.

When he caught the third punt, dozens of Packers players, including quarterback Jordan Love, ran over to congratulate him.

“That was pretty impressive,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I mean, three? I know I couldn’t do that. That was a good moment. I’m sure he’ll remember that for the rest of his life.”

Earlier, Jayden Reed, Keisean Nixon and Jaire Alexander gave it a shot. With one ball tucked between his legs and two others in his arms, Reed caught four. Nixon caught three and Alexander caught one.

“That was dope,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “I told Keisean, ‘Man, he caught the same amount of balls as you.’”

Play of the Day

Rookie safety Javon Bullard almost had two interceptions, including one he pried loose from receiver Jayden Reed. You can read about his night here.

But let’s go with Jordan Love and Romeo Doubs hooking up for back-to-back touchdowns. On the second, Doubs was in the slot and matched against Keisean Nixon. Doubs took his route toward the sideline and made a leaping catch. It was just so easy because Love and Doubs are so good in that situation.

“Just understanding the situation, timing, most importantly, and that’s part of why the practice habits play a huge role,” said Doubs, who was fourth in the NFL last year with seven red-zone touchdowns. “We hit on a fade, and I just know from this point on forward that we’re going to keep progressing and continuing to practice those reps because, ultimately, we want to make them easier in a game.”

Packers Injury Report

New injuries: DE Kingsley Enagbare (hamstring).

Returned to practice: RB Josh Jacobs (groin), C Josh Myers (personal), DE Rashan Gary (rest), DE Preston Smith (rest), TE Tyler Davis (rest) and G Elgton Jenkins (rest).

Old injuries: CB Don Callas (hamstring), CB Carrington Valentine (hamstring), DE Deslin Alexandre (lower leg), DE Keshawn Banks (groin), LB Edgerrin Cooper (hip), G Donovan Jennings (knee).

PUP: TE Tucker Kraft (pectoral).

Right tackle Zach Tom, who has been limited to individual drills for the past week, will be moved into team reps when the Packers return to practice on Tuesday.

During an extensive punting period, Tom worked to the side blocking defensive lineman Spencer Waege while under the supervision of strength and conditioning coordinator Aaron Hill.

“The rehab has been going really good,” Tom said. “I’ve just been coming in every day and trying to get better and trying to just deal with the blows that I’ve been dealt.”

Jacobs took part in warmups, including returning some kickoffs, but didn’t participate in individual drills or team reps.

“It was more so them not letting me. I feel good,” he said.

Kraft could return this week; he almost certainly will start with individual drills before being eased into 11-on-11 work.

Packers Practice Highlights

- Let’s start with the one-on-ones.

Jaire Alexander got off to a hot start by preventing completions to Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks. Later, though, Christian Watson got a step on Alexander for a deep touchdown.

Rookie Kalen King had a wild period. He gave up touchdowns to Samori Toure and Dimitri Stanley, but also had great coverage to win his rep against Bo Melton. Moments later, he gave up a long touchdown to Jayden Reed.

- During the first segment of 11-on-11, Jordan Love found Watson for a gain of about 20 against Eric Stokes. One play later, Stokes broke up a pass to Doubs.

- In the next period, Love used a masterful play-action fake that totally suckered Rashan Gary and allowed Dontayvion Wicks to get free on a bootleg.

- In red zone, Devonte Wyatt stopped a run by AJ Dillon, Gary beat Kadeem Telfort for a sack and Javon Bullard broke up a pass to Jayden Reed.

Staying in the red zone, Sean Clifford didn’t have a prayer on third-and-4 at the 6 as he was surrounded by Lukas Van Ness, Karl Brooks and TJ Slaton.

With Love back for another red-zone period, AJ Dillon followed left tackle Rasheed Walker and pulling left guard Elgton Jenkins to almost score a touchdown. That preceded the aforementioned back-to-back touchdown passes from Love to Doubs.

Jacob Eason’s end-zone fade to Julian Hicks was stopped by King, and Gemon Green broke up the next pass as Jonathan Ford applied the pressure.

- Later, Love had passes to Doubs broken up by Quay Walker – the former first-round pick covered a lot of ground to get his fingers on the ball – and Bullard. On the next play, it was Love to Doubs for 24 on a crossing route.

- King sacked Clifford on a slot blitz. Clifford had no idea he was coming; Clifford bought time to his right but King, coming from Clifford’s blind side, sprinted relentlessly and ran right past Clifford before the play was blown dead.

- The young backups got a fully live period. Michael Pratt got things rolling with a 24-yard completion to undrafted receiver Dimitri Stanley. However, Aaron Mosby blew up an end-around to Stanley, with cornerback Robert Rochell making the play for minus-5. Pratt, however, moved the chains with a 23-yard completion to another undrafted receiver, Julian Hicks.

Defensive end Kenneth Odumegwu stopped Jarveon Howard for minus-4, and Ford clobbered Howard on a busted second-and-goal run at the 2. Finally, on fourth-and-goal, rookie linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper stopped Ellis Merriweather short of the goal line.

- The starters vs. starters 2-minute drill was dominated by the defense. On first down, it looked like Jordan Love threw it away. On second down, Kenny Clark batted the pass down at the line. On third down, Alexander had tight coverage – perhaps too tight of coverage – to prevent a completion to Doubs. A fourth-down checkdown to Luke Musgrave was stopped well short of the first-down marker by Bullard.

- Sean Clifford led the offense into scoring position in the backups’ 2-minute drill. The big play came on fourth-and-10, with Clifford finding tight end Joel Wilson for 25 to the defense’s 39. Clifford followed with another completion to Wilson, this time for 11. A short completion and a run by Clifford set up third-and-short with 13 seconds to go. The coaches brought on the field-goal unit, moving the ball back about 20 yards to give both kickers a 57-yard field-goal attempt.

- Speaking of field goals, Anders Carlson was 8-of-9 and Greg Joseph was 7-of-9. Both missed the 57-yarder that ended practice. Joseph had made 20 in a row before missing wide left from 54.

Overall, Joseph is 36-of-40 while Carlson is 33-of-40. Coach Matt LaFleur said he “would anticipate” that the kicking battle will go the distance.

Packers Lineup Notes

- The No. 1 line consisted of Rasheed Walker at left tackle, Elgton Jenkins at left guard, Josh Myers at center, Jordan Morgan at right guard and Andre Dillard at right tackle. Kadeem Telfort and even Caleb Jones got some first-team action at right tackle.

- The No. 2 line consisted of Caleb Jones at left tackle, Royce Newman at left guard, Jacob Monk at center, Sean Rhyan at right guard and Telfort at right tackle. Dillard got some work at left tackle, too.

- The No. 1 safety tandem for the fifth time in 10 practices was Xavier McKinney and rookie Javon Bullard. Bullard also got some work in the slot, with fellow rookie Evan Williams moving in at safety in those instances.

Packers Training Camp Schedule

Incredibly, there are only six open practices left for the fans. Two will come this week: 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. There will be a closed-to-the-public practice on Thursday before Saturday’s preseason opener at the Cleveland Browns.

Quote of the Day

Rookie safety Javon Bullard on the atmosphere:

“We did walk-throughs and stuff in the stadium but to see it filled up, it was amazing. Like, dreams do come true. You think of that moment since you were a little boy. Now that those moments are actually here and right in front of your face, it’s surreal, for sure. … Tonight was only a glimpse of what Green Bay has to offer. It was my first time but I’m excited for the season.”

More Green Bay Packers Training Camp News

Big Zach Tom news | Kicking competition enters next phase | Eric Wilson vs. Edgerrin Cooper | Rookie progress report | Highlights from Practice 9 | Pass rush will be vital | Packers like their whites | Highlights from Practice 8 | The rise of Romeo Doubs | The rise of Grant DuBose | Highlights from Practice 7 | Highlights from Practice 7 | Week 1 gold, silver, bronze | Week 1 stock report | Highlights from Practice 6 | Highlights from Practice 5 | Highlights from Practice 4 | Highlights from Practice 3 | Highlights from Practice 2 | Highlights from Practice 1 


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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.