Here’s What Happened at Packers-Bengals Joint Practice

The Green Bay Packers battled the Cincinnati Bengals at a joint practice on Wednesday. Here’s Jordan Love’s day, the Player of the Day, Play of the Day and much more.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Cincinnati Bengals, after finishing sixth in points allowed last season, have their eyes on being a top-five defense in 2023. They’re coming off a season in which they ranked No. 1 in the NFL in opponent passer rating and opponent completion percentage.

Given that track record, there hardly could have been a better test for the Green Bay Packers’ young offense than the one they faced at a joint practice on a steamy Wednesday on the practice fields across the street from Paycor Stadium.

The Jordan Love-led offense certainly didn’t win the day. But it didn’t lose, either.

“I think it was some really good work,” Love said. “Obviously, didn’t get to see what the defense was doing right there but, offensively, we got a lot of great reps. It was nice to be able to go against a new defense, see some new looks, and I think we did a great job going out there and competing today.”

Here’s everything that happened during the 10th practice of Packers training camp.

Jordan Love’s Day

Jordan Love expects to play in Friday’s preseason opener against the Bengals, but what happened on the practice field might be more important.

By our count, he completed 17-of-29 passes with two touchdowns and one interception.

One of his best passes of the day came during the opening period, a deep shot to fullback Henry Pearson, who made a terrific one-handed catch. With linebacker Germaine Pratt coming from the inside, Love’s pass had to be thrown over Pearson’s outside shoulder. And that’s where it was. An earlier adjustment from Pearson might have made for an easier catch.

During the first red-zone period, Love was 3-of-4. On the first completion, Love went through his progressions before hitting rookie receiver Jayden Reed in stride for an explosive gain. The incompletion was a bullet to the end zone to Christian Watson that was broken up by veteran slot Mike Hilton. It’s a play Watson probably should have made.

During the next red-zone period, Love opened with a touchdown to Watson. On the next play, it appeared Love threw a no-look pass to Reed but linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither made an excellent break and broke up the pass. Finally, Love’s receiver screen was intercepted by Hilton.

“It was a run, and we had a bubble screen on the outside,” Love said. “He just made a really good play. He jumped it. We have to do a better job being able to block the point of attack right there. That can’t happen. It’s one of those plays I probably could’ve handed off right there. They got four guys over three, so I kind of forced it.”

Love completed 1-of-4 passes during his first crack at a third-down period. Even the completion probably failed to get the first down, though. During the next third-down period, he completed both passes for first downs. More on one of those in a moment.

Love’s day ended with a 2-minute drill. After completions to Aaron Jones and Romeo Doubs picked up a first down, Love threw a perfect deep ball to Doubs that went through his hands. Had it been caught, it might have been a touchdown over Sidney Jones. A third-down completion to Samori Toure picked up another first down but the drive stalled and Anders Carlson just missed a 60-yard field goal.

Jordan Love during joint practices at Cincinnati. (Photo by Carter Skaggs/USA Today Sports Images)

Player of the Day

This day was all about Jordan Love. Green Bay’s defense worked on another practice field, and players from both sides blocked the view of the one-on-one pass-protection drill. So, with a limited viewing selection, let’s go with Love, who played with poise in his first really big test as Green Bay’s starting quarterback.

He never looked rattled. Aside from the receiver-screen-turned-interception, Love kept the football out of harm’s way. He threw three pinpoint-perfect passes on deep shots. He even threw a no-look completion to Romeo Doubs.

“I think he’s good,” Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt said. “I thought he was solid, to be honest. I didn’t really know what to expect because I was always thinking of A-Rod, but I think he’s solid. … I think he’ll be a great player, to be honest. He learned from A-Rod, now he gets the keys to run the system.”

Play of the Day

The offense faced a third-and-6 during Love’s second swing at a third-down period. Love dropped back and threw a perfect long ball to Romeo Doubs, who was maybe a step beyond cornerback D.J. Turner for a 50-plus-yard touchdown.

“It’s just something we’ve got to keep working at,” Love said of the deep-passing game. “It’s obviously different looks. Receivers might be getting held up a little bit, so the timing is off, so we’ve just got to keep working at it, but I think we had some really good plays. Rome had a really nice one down the sideline that he probably scores on, and then, obviously, we had one in 2-minute [that Doubs dropped] and then I had one to Luke [Musgrave] on the sideline that I just overthrew a little bit, but something we just keep working.”

Injury Report

New Injuries: None.

Old Injuries: CB Eric Stokes (PUP list foot), RB Lew Nichols (shoulder), S Innis Gaines (quad), C Jake Hanson (elbow).

Returned From Injury: TE Josiah Deguara (calf).

Lineup Notes

Jonathan Owens (Photo by Carter Skaggs/USA Today Sports Images)

- Zach Tom, listed as the No. 1 right tackle on the depth chart, took all the first-team reps at right tackle and none at center. At this point, it appears Tom’s one day as the No. 1 center appears to be nothing more than just one day.

- While Samori Toure is listed as the starting slot receiver, rookie Jayden Reed took the overwhelming majority of those snaps.

- For the third consecutive practice, the No. 1 safeties were Darnell Savage and Jonathan Owens. Rudy Ford, not Owens, is listed as a starter.

- While Jaire Alexander went through individual drills, Carrington Valentine got the first-team snaps at corner.

Practice Highlights

- During a seven-on-seven drill to start practice, No. 3 quarterback Alex McGough threw a perfect deep shot to undrafted rookie Malik Heath for a long touchdown.

- The running game struggled for most of the day but Aaron Jones bounced his first run of the day around the corner for a nice gain.

- Starting left tackle David Bakhtiari and third-team left guard Jean Delance were flagged for false starts.

- An unscripted, move-the-ball period was a disaster. On third-and-2, Jordan Love was sacked by Trey Hendrickson. On third-and-13, he was sacked again by Hendrickson. On third-and-4, Cole Schneider and Sean Clifford botched a shotgun snap. On third-and-10, Clifford was sacked by Josh Tupou.

- The backup offensive line really had a poor day. During a third-down period, Clifford was sacked twice in four snaps.

- Rookie kicker Anders Carlson made 7-of-10 field-goal attempts. He was wide right on an extra-point attempt but made his next seven from 37, 39, 40, 44, 46, 48 and 51 yards before missing wide left from 56. During a 2-minute drill, he came up about a yard short from 60 yards. The kick was into a slight wind. With the ball in the air, punter/holder Pat O’Donnell thought Carlson had made the kick.

- The defenses won all four 2-minute drills. For Green Bay, Love’s drive resulted in Carlson’s miss from 60. For the backups, Clifford ran for a first down on his first play but threw too high to Dontayvion Wicks, Wicks again and Cody Chrest on fourth down.

Green Bay’s No. 1 defense faced Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning. Completions to running back Joe Mixon and tight end Irv Smith got the Bengals moving but the clock ran out on fourth-and-1 from around Green Bay’s 30.

Green Bay’s No. 2 defense forced a four-and-out, thanks in large part to Colby Wooden’s sack of Trevor Siemian on second down.

- Thanks to Packers.com’s Wes Hodkiewicz, who was on the other practice field and pointed out that defensive tackle Kenny Clark, first-round outside linebacker Lukas Van Ness and seventh-round cornerback Carrington Valentine had good days.

Packers Training Camp Schedule

The Packers will have a walk-through practice on Thursday before kicking off the preseason in Cincinnati on Friday night. The game will start at 7 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Central.

The Packers’ next public practice is set for Monday, and they’ll host the Patriots for joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday before they play a preseason game on Saturday. Starting times for those practices have not been announced.

Quote of the Day

Packers LT David Bakhtiari on the day:

“I used to be super-against joint practices, but I think they got a good beat. I think having the understanding is good. They’re not trying to be [jerks], I’m not trying to be [a jerk] to them, too. I think that’s the most important thing. We’re here to get some work in, get some laughs, also get to know an uncommon opponent. I think that’s really beneficial. Definitely growing on me, for sure.”

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