The season’s first game plan was taken to Clarke Hinkle Field today as the Packers inched closer to their opening day date against the rivals from Minnesota. The Packers meet the Vikings at US Bank Stadium at 3:25 PM Sunday.
Padding up for the two hour practice, Head Coach Matt LaFleur led the team through the basics of the plan they’ll take into the opener, honing in on more detailed situations like third down, red zone and two minute plans through the rest of the week.
The first injury report of the year was also released following the workout in which Allen Lazard continued to be the lone, non-participant. LaFleur finally explained what happened to Lazard last week. “He got stepped on”, said LaFleur, apparently on his ankle as for the second day this week, he only did some running on the side. If he doesn’t make significant progress and at least practice by Friday, there’s a good chance he will be wearing street clothes on Sunday.
Aaron Rodgers was asked about that possibility after practice and said they’ll likely have four or five receivers with at least some role in the game plan and if Lazard isn’t out there, everyone else, rookie receivers and all, will get bumped up a notch and they’ll have to be ready. In years past with a veteran receiving corps, any of the game day active wideouts were adept at playing every role in the offense, split wide, in the slot or lined up in tandem. Is that plug and play versatility in a little more doubt with Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and Samori Toure about to make their NFL regular season debuts? Randall Cobb didn’t seem to think so:
There’s also still come uncertainty over the offensive line. Even though David Bakhtiari and Eglton Jenkins were in pads for practice, they were both listed at limited participants. LaFleur remains coy about his opening starters, when asked if he knows which five will go, he said, “maybe.” He said they’ll line up with the best five that are available. Jenkins is coming off knee surgery from last November but also had a pectoral injury added to the first report.
Safety Darnell Savage (hamstring) and Tight End Robert Tonyan (knee) were the only other players listed as limited participants. I spoke with both players after practice and they said they’re feeling much better and remain hopeful about game one.
Full participants still listed on the report included Mason Crosby who continues to get some swings in on the practice field.
Mason Crosby works with holder Pat O’Donnell.
The others were Yosh Nijman (knee), Jake Hanson (shoulder), Christian Watson (knee), Tipa Galeai (elbow) and Dallin Leavitt (shoulder). At least Leavitt was properly dressed, no longer donning the red, no contact jersey.
Meanwhile in Minneapolis, former Packer Za’Darius Smith had some unkind words about his former employer. In an interview with Tyler Dunne of Go Long, Smith said when he returned to the team after undergoing back surgery last season, he was not treated well. He said he felt like an outsider, no one asking him how he was doing, even passing him bye without saying a word. He felt after helping turn the culture of the locker room around in his first two years, he was being shunned from it. Smith said that’s why he eventually signed with Minnesota so he could play the Packers twice a year.
LaFleur stayed on the high road by telling reporters he respected “the crap” out of Smith as a player, he did a lot of great things here, “I think we may have a different perspective of how things transpired and I’ll just leave it at that.”
Rodgers was also asked for a comment and said he wasn’t about to add any fuel to that potential fire saying he’ll echo what LaFleur said.
The Packers announced today they’ll be offering a limited number of standing room only tickets for all 8 home games this season. The $89.00 tickets will allow fans to stand behind sections 432 through 442 on the 4th level of Lambeau Field in the South End zone. There are also viewing platforms on either end of those sections with concessions and restrooms readily available. The tickets can now be ordered and purchased through Packers.com/tickets. There’s a limit of 8 per household.
