PACKERS CAMP INSIDER
GREEN BAY - Tuesday’s takeaways from the Packers’ training camp practice at Ray Nitschke Field.
MVS making a statement
There’s always a let’s-wait-until-theregular-season caveat with each notable practice performance, but the play of receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling on Tuesday looked like a statement. Valdes-Scantling has had a very good camp with few of the drops that plagued him last year. On this day, he was working every part of the field against the No. 1 defense and causing a lot of headaches. In a first-down drill, he caught a 25-yard pass down the middle. He drew what was for sure pass interference on rookie corner Eric Stokes on a corner route in the red zone and one play later made a beautiful diving catch at the pylon against Stokes for a 6-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers. He drew what was probably another pass interference call on a deep ball before ending his day with one of the nicest plays of training camp. With Stokes running step-for-step with him, he shot his arms out at the last second and speared a 50-yard bomb from Rodgers for a touchdown.
There’s a lot quarterback Jordan Love can still learn from Rodgers, but one of the things he has been able to absorb is the veteran’s hard count. Love has been able to draw the defense offside several times with his cadence at the line of scrimmage and he did it again on his third play of the day. The next stage is for him to continue the play and punish the defense for its mistake. In this case, he threw incomplete to receiver Malik Taylor.
QB watch
Love took part in his first 11-on-11 drill since injuring his right shoulder Aug. 14 against the Houston Texans. Coach Matt LaFleur eased him into the padded practice with a couple of hand-offs in the first-and-10 drill. During his second series, he looked wobbly with his three throws, missing on two of them. On the next series where the offense was backed up on its 2, his deep ball for Taylor was intercepted by rookie cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles, who had safety help behind him and made a nice leaping grab. It wasn’t until his final drive when he looked comfortable, completing a pair of timing routes. Then on second-and-goal at the 4, he got a heavy blitz up the middle and flipped a perfectly placed ball to running back Dexter Williams in the flat for the touchdown.
Injury update
Returned: ILB Ty Summers.
Didn’t practice: WR Devin Funchess (hamstring), WR Chris Blair (ankle), S Will Redmond (toe), S Vernon Scott (hamstring), OLB Za’Darius Smith (back), T Dennis Kelly (knee), WR Juwann Winfree (shoulder).
PUP: T David Bakhtiari (ACL recovery).
Bits and pieces
The practice began outside, but after a bolt of lightning flashed in the sky, everyone moved inside the Don Hutson Center. LaFleur ended it just short of 90 minutes.
Late in practice, cornerback Kevin King and Funchess took turns doing push-ups depending on whether the defense or offense won the play. There were some disputes over whether a penalty should have been called on a couple of the plays.
Wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown dressed for practice, but he barely took part, a day after doing everything. St. Brown has missed a lot of time due to a hamstring injury and probably has some ground to make up if he’s going to make the cut. When he has practiced, he has looked good.
Stokes had another rough day. Besides the receptions he gave up to Valdes-Scantling and the penalty he committed, he was in coverage with safety Adrian Amos when Rodgers threw a beautiful pass to Davante Adams along the right sideline for a 36-yard gain. Stokes also went for a pick-6 on a Rodgers floater to Randall Cobb in the left flat and missed, leaving Cobb a wide-open path to the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown.
Quote of the day
“That’s one job that’ll never go away. Like teaching, police officers and Door Dash, they’ll never go away.”
— Safety Innis Gaines, who delivered food as a Door Dash driver last season while rehabbing from a torn ACL in the Dallas area in hopes of getting an offer from an NFL team.