CAMP INSIDER
Sunday's takeaways
The Packers might have a tough time keeping Lane Taylor out of the starting lineup regardless who wins their right tackle job. Taylor has had a strong training camp at right guard and looks much more like the player he was a couple years ago, before an ankle injury in 2018 and torn pectoral last year that ended his season after two games. The Week 6 ankle injury in '18 seemed to have diminished his play – he missed only one game the rest of that season but did not play at the level he had in the first two seasons he replaced Josh Sitton as a starter. Taylor, you might remember, was athletic enough at full strength to be the Packers' best option to replace David Bakhtiari at left tackle when Bakhtiari missed four games in 2017. After Kyle Murphy bombed in two starts in place of Bakhtiari, the Packers bumped Taylor out from guard the final two games Bakhtiari missed, and Taylor held up fine at the hardest position on the offensive line. This year in camp Taylor is unbeaten in one-on-one passrushing drills, including Sunday, when he beat the Packers' best interior rusher, Kenny Clark, on back-to-back reps. Billy Turner and Rick Wagner are battling for the starting job at right tackle, and going into camp it appeared likely that if Wagner won, Turner would be the starting right guard, as he was last season. But Taylor has probably had the best camp of the three. Turner and Wagner have continued to share time at right tackle since Wagner returned after missing several days of practice because of an arm injury.
In Sunday's unscripted scrimmage at Lambeau Field, the Packers' running game had its share of good moments. But the flip side is a Packers' defense that had a lot of problems stopping the run last season had its issues Sunday. It should be noted there was no tackling in the scrimmage, so you can't know for sure when backs might have broken away from a close defender, or conversely, whether a defender let up once he thought he was in position to tag off on a back. But there were officials (local, not NFL) determining when they thought a back was tackled. Among the plays that most stood out with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback against the No. 1 defense were Jamaal Williams' 10-yard gain on a wide-zone run, and his 11-yarder on a draw two plays after. Later in the scrimmage, Aaron Jones scored a 12yard touchdown on a draw. Outside linebacker Za'Darius Smith did have two big run stops, one when he stuffed Williams for a two-yard loss on a run wide to his side, and the other on Tyler Ervin for a five-yard loss when Smith wasn't fooled by jet-sweep misdirection run his way. “Yeah, that (run game success) is a double-edged sword, you know?” coach Matt LaFLeur said. “It's great ‘cause it did seem like there were some holes in the area, (but) that's something we've gotta make sure we don't allow to have happen defensively.”
QB watch
Jordan Love looked a little indecisive on a couple plays early and had at least one risky incompletion on a throw over the middle, but as the scrimmage wore on he also threw well enough that LaFleur said, “It felt like it was probably his best day up to this point, just making some key throws down field.” Love converted a third-and-6 with a good throw underneath to receiver Darrius Shepherd, kept the ball low and away from trouble on a 17-yard completion to Malik Taylor over the middle, was on target to Shepherd on a third-and-12 down the middle seam for at least a 35-yard-plus gain and possibly a 44-yard touchdown, and he closed the scrimmage by dropping a touch throw to Malik Turner in the back corner of the end zone for a four-yard touchdown.
Injury update
Missed practice: S Raven Greene (undisclosed), ILB Oren Burks (undisclosed), DL Montravius Adams (foot), CB Kabion Ento (foot), OLB Randy Ramsey (undisclosed) WR Equanimeous St. Brown (undisclosed), Will Sunderland (undisclosed), DL Treyvon Hester (undisclosed)
Non-football injury list: RB Patrick Taylor, OL Simon Stepaniak.
Physically unable to perform list: LB Curtis Bolton, OLB Greg Roberts.
OL Billy Turner left the scrimmage briefly because of an apparent leg injury but later returned.
Bits and pieces
Second-round pick AJ Dillon was improving as a blocker as camp neared its end. In one-on-one blitz pickup before the start of the scrimmage he twice held up against linebacker Ty Summers. Then in the scrimmage Dillon picked up a free rusher on a third down that helped give Tim Boyle time to hit Darrius Shepherd for a 16-yard gain. Later Dillon had a decent lead block on cornerback Chandon Sullivan on a jet sweep by Ervin.
Shepherd and Marquez ValdesScantling had good days at receiver. Besides the third-down catch and a possible 44-yard touchdown, Shepherd caught a 20-yard touchdown from Boyle on a post route. Valdes-Scantling converted a third-and-9 by beating Jaire Alexander on an out route and tapping his feet in-bounds on the throw from Rodgers. He also caught a 26-yard pass from Rodgers against safety Adrian Amos to set up the offense at the 7.
CB Josh Jackson continued his upand-down play. In zone coverage he read Boyle, broke on the ball and knocked down a throw over the middle. But Jackson (and safety Darnell Savage) also gave up a 23-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Allen Lazard (Za'Darius Smith might have sacked Rodgers on the play, but the refs did not blow the whistle). Jackson also gave up a 46-yard touchdown when he tried and missed to knock down an out route from Boyle to Taylor. That allowed Taylor to turn and run for the long score.
Quote of the day
“(Tackling) was something that we talked about, but we want to have all our horses for the race coming in two weeks. We've got to make sure that we're healthy because I know this: We're going to be at our best when we've got all our guys out there. It was something that we talked about today, even during that practice, was whether or not with some of the younger guys if we were going to give them another live rep. But some of the circumstances dictated us going in a different direction there right at the end.” – LaFleur, on his decision to not have any live periods in Sunday's scrimmage.
Practice schedule
There will be no practice Monday and Tuesday, and then the team will practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before roster gets trimmed to 53 players Saturday.