What a waste of time.
Here I am, enjoying a nice family holiday in southwest Florida.
A local bar, branding themselves “Lambeau South”, had the New York Jets at Green Bay Packers preseason game on the big screen.
I decided to temporarily abandon my family and head down to watch.
I really should not have bothered. The Packers certainly did not.
Preseason caveats
I do not put too much stock into preseason – sorry to those Cleveland Browns fans who have already bought Sanders jerseys in the past few days.
You are mostly watching a bunch of players who will not make the roster, a stripped-down playbook, and some starters not giving it their full whack.
However… what the Packers put on the field was nothing short of abysmal.
It is only preseason, but familiar themes returned – drops, penalties, and general ill-discipline.
Head coach Matt LaFleur has, on occasion, been accused of not having the team ready to play. Slow starts over the past four to five years have been lamented. It happened again.
The Jets have a new head coach, so perhaps it was predictable they would be hyped for this game – but there is no excuse for the Packers being outplayed in all three phases. The team looked sloppy and, frankly, disinterested.
Depth concerns
General Manager Brian Gutekunst and LaFleur have often talked about the Packers’ strength in depth. That was not evident on Saturday evening.
Core starters – the hearts of the team – did not play well. Romeo Doubs dropped a pass. Mecole Hardman – whose only realistic route to the roster is as a returner – muffed a punt and dropped a pass of his own.
Individual performances were poor. The team performance overall was worse.
To make matters worse, and as frustrating as the play was, the injury situation is even more worrying.
Jayden Reed was in a boot. Xavier McKinney did not play. New acquisition Nate Hobbs was out, as was receiver Dontayvion Wicks.
Core special teamers Zayne Anderson and Corey Ballentine both went down injured. It was not a good day for the Packers, as an already beefy injury list got slightly scarier.
Some light positives?
LaFleur said there was a lot to learn, and he is right – it is better to make mistakes now.
But the fact these are mistakes we have been making for several seasons does not fill fans with hope.
Still, a few players flashed.
Lukas Van Ness, Nazir Stackhouse, Matthew Golden, and Barryn Sorrell all had nice moments in limited action. And Amar Johnson scored a tidy touchdown, though he is unlikely to make the roster.
I will not lose too much sleep over this one, but I truly hope we see more guts from the players in the final two preseason games – especially those fighting for a spot on the 53-man roster.
