The third game of the preseason is supposedly a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Thursday night’s contest between the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders, however, was anything but that.
Let’s start with the obvious snafu: The NFL, despite having months to get a Canadian football field ready for American football, was left scrambling to make something work after troves of fans paid lofty prices to watch second- and third-string players face off against one another. The result? A football field, subtracted by 20 yards, minus one core piece of special teams. Intentional or not, if the NFL is trying to expedite the removal of preseason games altogether, the traves-sham-ockery that was tonight’s game certainly didn’t hurt the prospects of eradicating exhibition games.
Both Matt LaFleur and Raiders coach Jon Gruden decided to pull most, if not all, of their starters, so this dress rehearsal became more of an impromptu bottom-of-roster evaluation scrimmage. So, in a game that was hard to take seriously, the Packers wouldn’t escape without what could be a couple serious injuries.
Onto the takeaways…
Tim Boyle heats up after slow start
After playing behind DeShone Kizer the last two games, Tim Boyle finally got the chance to play with the front line “starters” Thursday night. In two quarters of snaps, Boyle started out ice cold. He didn’t complete a single pass in his first drive. He began the first three drives completing 1 of 8 passes for 10 yards. On the fourth drive, Boyle started to find some confidence. With the help of an electric Trevor Davis, Boyle didn’t throw a single incompletion, capped off with a 23-yards touchdown to Davis.
In the end, Boyle finished 16 of 25 for 191 yards (7.6 average) with two touchdowns and a 113.9 rating. Kizer finished 4 of 7 for 24 yards (3.4 average), zero touchdowns and an interception. According to Andy Herman of CheeseheadTV, it has been Boyle (488 yards, 45 points, one turnover, eight punts and seven scoring drives in 83 plays) who’s been the more effective quarterback on a drive-by-drive basis (218 yards, 10 points, three turnovers, seven punts and two scoring drives in 66 plays for Kizer). Granted Kizer has played against tougher opponents for the most part, but the former second-round pick shouldn’t feel comfortable in the QB2 role.
The comedy in all of this is that regardless of who wins the backup battle, it’s hard to think either is capable of treading water and keeping the team in the playoff hunt in the event Aaron Rodgers gets hurt for an extended period of time. The question Brian Gutekunst has to answer is if he thinks Kizer, who offers some higher-upside playmaking ability despite his lower lows, is a better option than Boyle, who seems to require some time to get the ugly out (a sort of football vomit, if you will) before he starts rallying to throw lasers at the intended targets.
Canadian injury bugs strike Packers
This was not a kind night to the Packers. Twice did Packers first-round pick Rashan Gary leave the field. On the second go-around, Gary’s neck looked to have taken the brunt of a tackle. He was carted off but appears to be OK, according to his agency, RG Sports.
The outlook does not look as favorable for linebacker Curtis Bolton or wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, however. Bolton came back from the locker room on crutches with a brace around his knee. St. Brown took a nasty hit in the open field. It appeared as though his ankle was caught in an awkward angle and got twisted when he was hit. The slow-motion video makes it appear as though St. Brown might have broken or dislocated his ankle. If that’s the case, he might be done for the year.
There were others, too, such as defensive tackle Tyler Lancaster and guard Cole Madison, who both got roughed up but whose injuries do not appear serious.
Hopefully the Packers get lucky, but injuries – both major and minor – are all but guaranteed in the NFL; it’s now a matter of who is hurt, how long they’ll be hurt, and how that’ll affect the depth chart moving forward. If St. Brown is down for an extended period of time, it just might allow the Packers to control one more receiver than they otherwise would have been able to on their roster. Given the logjam at the wide receiver position, the Packers might be able to hold onto Darrius Sheppard and/or Allen Lazard. In a similar vein, if Bolton’s injury is serious, general manager Brian Gutekunst might have to pore through the scrap heap after the cut down deadline or via trade since Blake Martinez, Ty Summers and James Crawford are just about the only healthy remaining linebackers on the team.
Trevor Davis didn’t belong on this field
Davis should not have been out there. He was far and away one of the best players facing a smorgasbord of second- and third-team players in an exhibition where every other player was getting hurt.
Davis caught five of six targets for 78 yards (15.6 average) including a touchdown. With the ball in his hands, Davis appeared dynamic and confident. Though he’s been close to a fringe roster player the past few years (often because of injuries), Davis seems to be hitting his stride in the final year of his rookie contract. He’s the team’s best returner, but he also looks ready to contribute as a complementary wide receiver, too.
J.K. Scott finding consistency
It’s no secret that second-year punter J.K. Scott struggled a bit as a rookie. Despite having the ability to boom punts with five-second-plus hangtime, Scott couldn’t found a rhythm as a kicker. Thus far in the preseason, and particularly Thursday night, Scott has found that consistency.
Scott punted the ball seven times and averaged 47.1 yards per punt. He landed one punt inside the 20 and his longest punt went for 66 yards, or 83 percent of tonight’s ad-hoc field.
The Packers drafted Scott to be a special teams weapon. So far, the arrow is teetering in the right direction.
