The hub bub of Wednesday’s suspension of Jaire Alexander has subsided, the deep rooted reasons behind the conduct detrimental to the team beyond what he thought was hometown coin toss fun will come out eventually. The Green Bay Packers have an extremely important game to prepare for against the Minnesota Vikings, two 7-8 clubs who may be down to their last hope of joining 13 other squads in the post-season.
The cornerback room in chaos at work Thursday.
A steady, light rain kept the Packers inside the Don Hutson Center for Thursday’s practice. Head Coach Matt LaFleur has four players still not taking part. De’Vondre Campbell hasn’t worked since his declaration of no longer playing hurt last week. Receivers Christian Watson and Dontayvion Wicks were both out again although LaFleur isn’t ready to rule either one out yet. Friday’s practice will probably determine their fate. T.J. Slaton also stayed on the sideline.
The host of limited participants was encouraging, A.J. Dillon, Aaron Jones, Elton Jenkins, Jayden Reed and Luke Musgrave running smoothly on offense. On the defensive side, Darnell Savage worked for a second straight day, joined by Quay Walker, Jonathan Owens and Robert Rochelle.
Across the border, Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell announced it will be rookie Jaren Hall getting the start at quarterback for the prime time show at U.S. Bank Stadium. The 5th round pick from BYU made his NFL debut at Lambeau Field on October 29. Kirk Cousins was riddling the Packer defense to the tune of three touchdown passes building a 24-3 lead before the Minnesota season took a horrible turn. Cousins ruptured his Achilles tendon and was lost for the year. Hall hit three of four passes in the final quarter for 23 yards, got sacked once and lost a fumble. He also played the following week against Atlanta, going 5 for 6 for 78 yards with a long toss of 47. Minnesota then brought on board Joshua Dobbs from Arizona who made a huge splash early before faltering, giving way to Nick Mullens who endured four interceptions in last week’s home loss to Detroit which allowed the Lions to celebrate their first division championship in 30 years. Now with a season on the line, it’s the rookie who will try and carry the day.
LaFleur said he did some extra tape review of Hall even going back to pre-season reps. He said the rookie has a live arm and is very mobile which has been problematic for the Green Bay defense at times, most notably in New York with another unproven young QB in Tommy DeVito. Hall is still surrounded by a solid offensive line, a hard runner in Alexander Mattison and a quality receiving corps even without tight end T.J. Hockenson who suffered a season ending knee injury last week. Even with rookie Jordan Addison hobbled, there’s still K.J. Osborn, Brandon Powell and a healthy again superstar in Justin Jefferson. LaFleur said committing too much attention to Jefferson can be a double edged sword if Hall is given time to progress through reads. Difficult to diagnose coverage looks and contain in the pocket pressure will have to be on point to try and force a mistake.
In the locker room after practice, the Alexander suspension was still on the mind of some like Keiseasn Nixon who when reporters converged around his locker said no questions about Jaire in full volume.
The finishing touches on a game plan that can secure a critical road victory against a rookie quarterback with a chaotic defensive side will be made on Friday before the trip west.
