Highlights, Injury Scares at Practice 12 of Packers Training Camp

From a couple injury scares to a bunch of big plays to an up-and-down day for Jordan Love, here’s everything you need to know about Wednesday at Green Bay Packers training camp.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson at training camp. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The most exciting play during Wednesday’s practice at Green Bay Packers training camp turned into the scariest, when receiver Christian Watson was slow to get up after an end-zone interception by Evan Williams. Watson is fine, making Williams’ interception the highlight of the 12th practice of camp.

Here’s what you need to know about the action at Ray Nitschke Field.

Jordan Love’s Day

Jordan Love’s day started poorly and ended poorly. In between, there were was a lot of efficient play as he finished 15-of-24 passing.

On his first play of the day, a play-action fake got Christian Watson open on a bomb but the ball was significantly underthrown and safety Xavier McKinney almost grabbed an interception. Later, Love overthrew tight end Luke Musgrave streaking up the seam and underthrew Watson on another deep shot.

From there, Love found his groove. He had back-to-back completions to Watson and a couple completions to Dontayvion Wicks during one period, then found Watson in a hole in the secondary for a third-and-3 conversion.

On his next third down, McKinney grabbed a tip-drill interception.

“Our (line)backer, I think it was Quay (Walker), Quay did a good job of expanding to it. He got his hand on it,” McKinney said. “Originally, I thought it was going to come straight to me. He tipped it and had to readjust. I was able to get the pick. Just me breaking on the ball. 

“Tips and overthrows, we say we’ve got to get those. I was able to make that one.”

Up next was a red-zone period. After a screen to tight end Ben Sims, Love hit Romeo Doubs in the right side of the end zone for a touchdown. McKinney was the nearest defender, and Doubs made a tumbling catch for the score.

Practice ended with a 2-minute drill. With the ball at the 30 and the offense needing a field goal to tie or a touchdown to win, Love completed three consecutive passes – 9 yards to tight end Luke Musgrave, 13 yards to Wicks and 30 yards to Wicks on a sublime corner route over Keisean Nixon.

With the ball on the defense’s 18 and 50 seconds on the clock, Love was involved in the Play of the Day.

Play of the Day

The offense was in position to at least tie the score when Love stepped to the line with the ball on the 18. Love threw to the back of the end zone, giving Christian Watson a jump-ball opportunity against rookie safety Evan Williams. Williams was in great position, though, and made a leaping interception.

“I knew they didn’t have too much space behind me in the low red (zone), so I was just playing it underneath, just zone turn,” Williams said. “He threw the ball – probably a little bit of a height difference there – and just good little jump ball and I was able to go get it.”

The defense’s celebration was muted, though, as Watson stayed face-down on the field for a couple minutes. He sat up for a moment, then laid on his back for another minute or so before getting up and walking off the field.

“I’m glad Jordan took a shot on that one,” Watson said. “I tried to go up and get it. I think we just came down a little awkward. I don’t know if it was his knee or his cleat, but something hit me in the knee. I think it hurt a lot worse in the moment than I thought. I’m just thankful and was praying that it wasn’t too serious, and it wasn’t.”

Watson didn’t think the injury would impact his availability for Thursday’s practice or Saturday’s preseason game at the Cleveland Browns.

Player of the Day

Cornerback Jaire Alexander had a quiet day during team periods. But that’s good if you’re a cornerback because that means your man isn’t getting open. That’s been the story of Alexander’s training camp. He’s given up some completions but they’ve been few and far in between and, generally, for minimal gains.

During one-on-ones, he showed his recovery speed to deflect a deep pass to Romeo Doubs. Doubs tried to beat him deep again later, too, to no avail. Finally, on his third rep, Alexander lost to Watson on an out-breaking route for a short completion.

On the fourth play of the first team period, Alexander beat his blocker to stop an end-around to Bo Melton for a gain of about 4. Had Alexander not made the play, Melton might have been off to the races.

A close runner-up for Player of the Day is running back AJ Dillon. During a red-zone period, he caught a pass for one first down and scored on a run up the middle on the next play. Earlier, he had a tremendous pass-protecting rep against Rashan Gary, which gave Jordan Love the time to go deep to Watson.

Packers Injury Report

New injuries: WR Jayden Reed (calf).

Returned to practice: LB Quay Walker (unknown), DE Kingsley Enagbare (hamstring).

Old injuries: WR Dimitri Stanley (hamstring), CB Carrington Valentine (hamstring), DE Deslin Alexandre (lower leg), DE Keshawn Banks (groin), LB Edgerrin Cooper (hip), G Donovan Jennings (knee), RG Jordan Morgan (shoulder).

Morgan said his shoulder injury, sustained at practice on Tuesday, is “nothing big.”

After moving ahead of Sean Rhyan at right guard, how will he keep the momentum going if he is out for a week or so?

“Staying consistent, staying coachable, learning from all the vets and being a student of the game,” Morgan said. “Just keep learning things every day, learning new things. Even if I’m starting, I’m not going to let up. I’ve got to be comfortable being uncomfortable and keep moving forward.”

Christian Watson’s final play wasn’t the only scare. Fellow receiver Malik Heath got tangled up as a blocker on a running play and went down for a few minutes. Trainers checked his left knee and took him inside the Don Hutson Center. Fortunately, he not only didn’t suffer a torn ACL, he was back in the action by the end of practice.

Packers Practice Highlights

- New kicker Alex Hale made 5-of-6 field goals during his first day with the team. We’ll have more on his unusual story on Thursday morning following interviews with Hale and his mentor, longtime NFL kicker John Carney.

- On the second play of one-on-ones, tight end Luke Musgrave got behind Anthony Johnson for a long touchdown. Musgrave caught all three passes during the period, with another completion against Johnson and one against safety Xavier McKinney. After a slow start to camp, Musgrave is rolling.

- Sticking with the one-on-ones, receiver Malik Heath used a double move to get past cornerback Robert Rochell for a long touchdown. Later, Heath beat Rochell on an out.

- One more from one-on-ones: Rookie cornerback Kalen King continues to impress. Bo Melton beats almost everyone in this drill but King had an impressive breakup.

- Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt had a strong day, with at least three blink-of-an-eye pressures.

- On a bootleg by rookie quarterback Michael Pratt, defensive end Rashan Gary delivered a massive blow to tight end Joel Wilson. Wilson kept his feet, though, so when Gary went after Pratt, Pratt had Wilson for an easy completion. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich was fired up.

- On Tuesday, our Player of the Day was defensive end Brenton Cox. He had another excellent day. He stopped back-to-back runs by Emanuel Wilson and Jarveon Howard, with the latter creating a loss of about 5.

- Right tackle Zach Tom got a lot of reps during his second day back in the lineup following a torn pectoral. He was excellent, per usual, including stopping a bull rush by Kenny Clark. Later, he led a screen that picked up 9 yards. He was fired up about that play.

- The quick-hit perimeter passing game has been terrible for most of the summer but a pass to Dontayvion Wicks gained about 10 yards thanks to excellent blocks by Melton and tight end Tyler Davis.

- On back-to-back third-down plays, Lukas Van Ness (and Wyatt) pressured Love into an incompletion and batted down a pass.

- The next two third-down plays were foiled by defensive tackle Karl Brooks, who ruined a screen, and Rochell, who appeared to break up a pass to Grant DuBose. Later, on fourth-and-9, Rochell broke up another pass, though that one was nullified by defensive offside.

- Defensive end Arron Mosby deflected Michael Pratt’s pass on fourth-and-1.

- Wilson was stuffed on first-and-goal by defensive tackle TJ Slaton, who did a little dancing to celebrate.

- Practice ended with a pair of 2-minute drills. On both, the offense trailed 24-21 and started at the 30 with 1:20 on the clock and zero timeouts.

Up first, the No. 2s went in reverse. Kingsley Enagbare broke up a pass on first down, Colby Wooden stormed into the backfield on second down and Brooks and Cox combined for a sack on third down. On fourth-and-19, Sean Clifford threw a bomb to Samori Toure, who had a chance to make a jump-ball catch against safety Zayne Anderson but couldn’t make the play.

Up next, the No. 1s got into scoring position. Love hit Musgrave for 9 on first down and Dontayvion Wicks for 13 on second-and-1. Love then threw a beautiful pass to Wicks, with the ball looping over Keisean Nixon and into Wicks’ hands for a gain of 30. That set up the aforementioned interception by Williams.

Packers Lineup Notes

- With first-round pick Jordan Morgan out with a shoulder injury, Sean Rhyan got all the first-team reps at right guard. Zach Tom got most of the action at right tackle, with Kadeem Telfort coming on in relief during lengthy series.

“We were battling and, unfortunately, things happen and now we’re not really splitting reps anymore,” Rhyan said. “It’s just me, at least for the time being. So, in my position, I feel like I’ve just got to capitalize on it and show them that they still have a pretty good right guard.”

- For the fourth consecutive day, the No. 1 safety pairing was Xavier McKinney and rookie Javon Bullard. Evan Williams and Anthony Johnson got some reps with McKinney, too, but it was mostly McKinney and Bullard.

Has the battle been won?

“I think it’s going to be a competitive situation throughout,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I would expect more rotation as we move forward.”

- For the 2-minute drill at the end of practice, the Packers went with Bullard and Johnson.

- With starting middle linebacker Quay Walker getting some limited reps, rookie third-round pick Ty’Ron Hopper again worked with the starters for a sizable chunk of practice.

“It’s been pretty good,” Hopper said. “Playing with guys like that in front of you that’s done did it for a long time, it enables you to play even faster, so it’s been pretty good.”

- There isn’t a “No. 2” line, per se, but the Packers went with this to start the day: Caleb Jones at left tackle, Royce Newman at left guard, Jacob Monk at center, Lecitus Smith at right guard and Kadeem Telfort at right tackle. Later, they went with Andre Dillard, Monk, Smith, Luke Tenuta and Travis Glover.

Packers Training Camp Schedule

The Packers will hold a closed-to-the-public practice on Thursday before flying to Cleveland on Friday for Saturday’s preseason game against the Browns.

Remarkably, there are only four more viewing opportunities for the fans. Two of those are next week, with 10:30 a.m. start times on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Quote of the Day

Safety Xavier McKinney, on upcoming joint practices next week at the Denver Broncos and in two weeks against the Baltimore Ravens:

“I’m not a big fan of joint practices, to be honest with you. Obviously, when you see around the league, it’s just a whole bunch of fighting a lot of the times. It’s kind of tough because it’s not a game. It’s a practice. So, you’re not trying to get the other team hurt. You don’t want to hurt any of your guys, so you’ve got to have that mutual understanding of, ‘Let’s go in here and work but, at the end of the day, let’s take care of each other.’

“It can be kind of hard at times because, obviously, we’re on different teams, so it gets competitive. It’s tough, especially when it’s not a real game. It is what it is. I’d rather it be one day. I don’t like the idea of doing multiple joint practices because I just don’t really see a point of it. Another thing, too, because it’s going to be all vanilla stuff. We’re not throwing out our whole playbook. They’re not throwing out their whole playbook. If we’re doing joint practices, we might as well not do a preseason game because it’s pretty much a preseason game. That’s how I feel about that.”

More Green Bay Packers Training Camp News

Here's the latest on #Packers injuries, including offensive lineman Jordan Morgan. ⬇️https://t.co/pozYL4Bgk7

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 7, 2024

Latest news and analysis: Packers sign three | Zach Tom is back | Tucker Kraft on his comeback | Takeaways from first depth chart | Rookie Ty’Ron Hopper adjusting to NFL | Roster projection 2.0 | Week 2 medal winners | Week 2 stock report | Quarterback released | New outlooks for Colby Wooden, Karl Brooks | Javon Bullard looking smooth =Kicking competition enters next phase | Eric Wilson vs. Edgerrin Cooper | Rookie progress report

Training camp highlights: Practice 11 | Family Night | Practice 9 | Practice 8 | Practice 7 | Practice 6 | Practice 5 | Practice 4 | Practice 3 | Practice 2 | Practice 1