Preseason game 1: Houston vs. GB

[HardRightEdge]

I fully understand that but nevertheless expected Gary to perform at a higher level over the first two preseason games.

I'm a bit disappointed but not particularly surprised.

It seems scouting reports in recent years have been skimming over the issue of converting from down lineman to stand-up OLB. Gary is learning a new position in an unfamiliar defense. And we knew his technique needed work to start with, now to be applied at that new position. He's come in with a bull rush and not much of the finer points of hand work and counter moves. We've not seen much in the way of technique improvement but I'm willing to chalk that up for now to first-things-first in learning the position and the defense.

It might be worth remembering that Kenny Clark looked terrible in his first camp and preseason, getting consistently blown off the line and on his butt. He was a rotational player his first year, 335 snaps, 32.5% defensive snap count, two starts, no sacks, four QB hits, 1 tackle for loss, 13 solo tackles, playing most DE, lacking the strength to play NT. The progression has been steady since.

In both cases, the Packers were buying athletic raw material.

The one thing I don't like is Gary's jogging out backside pursuit on plays downfield which has been pointed out by others here. I would hope somebody is getting on him about that.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

Will watch the 2nd game today but the first game I did not see anything bad or good about Gary. Mostly they ran the ball to the other side of the line. But he did seem to me to get close to the QB on passing plays. Talks of him playing poorly are greatly exaggerated imho. Don't know what you guys expect.

Him to make some kind of impact since the Packers thought he was, at a minimum, the 12th best player in the NFL draft. He's young, I'm by no means saying he won't improve, but so far he's lacked awareness and doesn't have anything close to a refined pass rush. He looks a lot like what ppl were saying he was prior to the draft; a physical specimen who relied on sheer physical prowess to get by.