What I learned from the first preseason game:

PackersRS

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1. Our offense is solid. Of course, it was the Browns. But as they commentator (I believe it was Bernie Kosar) said, we look like we're in the middle of the season. Our #1 offense didn't commit a single penalty, a nice change of pace from last 2 years, we kept the ball moving, we made long plays, AND OUR OL DID A GREAT JOB. 392 passing yards and 230 rushing yards!!!

2. RB problem? Are you kidding me? Terrell Sutton might as well be the #3 Rb week 1. Impressive. Jackson broke some nice runs, and Grant looked very sharp, nothing like last year.

3. VERY agressive D. Yeah, Kampman's cover skills aren't the best, and we allowed some 3rd down conversions, but the pressure on the qb was tremenduous, we're still one of the best teams in the league in INTS, and best of all, WE'RE STOPPING THE RUN!!! 59 rushing yards allowed. Keep it like this, and this will be a top 10 unit.

4. Flynn is the real deal. Brohm is a bust. For those who thought that we needed a veteran QB, we don't. Flynn can get the job done. But Brohm is a 2nd round pick wasted... Shame, was cheering for him. MM is a GREAT qb coach and maybe can still correct him, but I wouldn't count on that.

Watch out for those: Bishop, Anthony Smith, Johnny Jolly and Jermichael Finley. Bishop was the BEST defensive on our team IMO. Finley, like Bishop, showed that all the Minicamp hype was deserved. Smith picked a crucial pass, and made a great tackle. Jolly looked like a +300 pound DL moving like a 250 pound LB. Barnett, Lee, Bigby (Collins) and Raji will have a lot of trouble cracking the starting lineup, though I expect them to be the starters come week 1.

Not so good: Tony Moll and Brian Brohm. Almost all players looked good. Heck, even Jarett Bush played well on ST. But Moll looked like, well, Moll. He couldn't keep the pressure off of Flynn, and commited stupid penalties. Brohm looked terrible, and if he can't improve and get the pace of the NFL, he won't be with the team next year...
 

danielchile

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Of course, we always have to remember that this is just preseason. The lions were perfect last preseason and a complete mess during the regular season.

But yeah, it was great to see the team playing well. I cheered the fact that our starting OL didn't make a single penalty and that Flynn looked great to be our backup.

Anthony Smith surprised me. He facemasked Cribbs but then he went to intercept Quinn and sack Ratliff.
 

Schmitty327

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I liked what I saw. First off since I used to play O-line, I gotta give props to that line. They gave Rodgers a world of time and really did a good job run blocking. Its nice to see a big target in Finnely making nice grabs like he was, and its good to see James Jones back on the field. The D was awsome. Finaly a defense where we can constantly get pressure on the QB. Thats what led to half of those picks. I liked what I saw out of Anthony Smith too. And we did all this with a lot of our starters on the bench. Very good outing.
 

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1. Our offense is solid. Of course, it was the Browns. But as they commentator (I believe it was Bernie Kosar) said, we look like we're in the middle of the season. Our #1 offense didn't commit a single penalty, a nice change of pace from last 2 years, we kept the ball moving, we made long plays, AND OUR OL DID A GREAT JOB. 392 passing yards and 230 rushing yards!!!

2. RB problem? Are you kidding me? Terrell Sutton might as well be the #3 Rb week 1. Impressive. Jackson broke some nice runs, and Grant looked very sharp, nothing like last year.

3. VERY agressive D. Yeah, Kampman's cover skills aren't the best, and we allowed some 3rd down conversions, but the pressure on the qb was tremenduous, we're still one of the best teams in the league in INTS, and best of all, WE'RE STOPPING THE RUN!!! 59 rushing yards allowed. Keep it like this, and this will be a top 10 unit.

4. Flynn is the real deal. Brohm is a bust. For those who thought that we needed a veteran QB, we don't. Flynn can get the job done. But Brohm is a 2nd round pick wasted... Shame, was cheering for him. MM is a GREAT qb coach and maybe can still correct him, but I wouldn't count on that.

Watch out for those: Bishop, Anthony Smith, Johnny Jolly and Jermichael Finley. Bishop was the BEST defensive on our team IMO. Finley, like Bishop, showed that all the Minicamp hype was deserved. Smith picked a crucial pass, and made a great tackle. Jolly looked like a +300 pound DL moving like a 250 pound LB. Barnett, Lee, Bigby (Collins) and Raji will have a lot of trouble cracking the starting lineup, though I expect them to be the starters come week 1.

Not so good: Tony Moll and Brian Brohm. Almost all players looked good. Heck, even Jarett Bush played well on ST. But Moll looked like, well, Moll. He couldn't keep the pressure off of Flynn, and commited stupid penalties. Brohm looked terrible, and if he can't improve and get the pace of the NFL, he won't be with the team next year...
awesome report!
obviously this is still the preseason but who knows, if they can carry the momentum week in and week out to the season we may just see what Rodgers can do in the playoffs. that is something i want to see as a Packer fan and as someone who trusts in Rodgers. plus i want some bragging rights over my buddies here in the great white north who dont believe this team can go anywhere!
 

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I'm not ready to toss Brohm out with the bath water. He had some shaky moments but he looks better than he did last year (and I admit he could only improve over last season!). I remember Rodgers didn't look all that great his first 2 seasons either. BB is our 3rd string QB right now. It is fun that we have to reach back to a 3rd string QB to find something to complain about, isn't it? ;)
 

America

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I would urge caution in making any generalizations based upon a game against what could be a weak team that obviously wasn't scheming for us and probably didn't want to tip their hand since they play us for real in a couple of weeks. Minus a penalty and a dropped pass they would have hung 10 points on defense in the first half.

Nonetheless, I thought we looked organized, Rodgers and Flynn looked comfortable, our offensive line had good control of Cleveland's defensive front all night.

Individual kudos to Desmond Bishop (who, IMO, should probably be starting in place of Hawk), Johny Jolly (who played quite well despite missing a week because of injury) Tyrell Sutton (who is playing too well to hide on the practice squad) and Matt Flynn (he's a football player).

I wouldn't be too harsh on Brohm yet. It's obvious the game hasn't slowed down for him....he's not making bad decisions with the ball, he's just making decisions too slowly. If I were the Packers, I'd put him him in right after Rodgers with the first offense and give him some very carefully scripted plays in an effort to get his confidence up.
 
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PackersRS

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I'm not ready to toss Brohm out with the bath water. He had some shaky moments but he looks better than he did last year (and I admit he could only improve over last season!). I remember Rodgers didn't look all that great his first 2 seasons either. BB is our 3rd string QB right now. It is fun that we have to reach back to a 3rd string QB to find something to complain about, isn't it? ;)
I agree with that. It's not that I've lost faith in him. It's just that after one season, it's not a good indication that the 2nd round QB, projected before the draft as high as a top 10, can't beat a 7th round pick that people thought didn't have the measurables to be an NFL quarterback.
But if you think about it, if we had taken Flynn with that 2nd round pick and Brohm with that 7th rounder, everybody would be happy with the ways things are going. It's not just that Brohm is playing poorly, it's more that Flynn is looking so confortable and sure of himself out there (I just want to see him making the long plays, then I'll be sure he can be a starting qb in the NFL, but right not I'm pretty sure he can be a quality backup...)
 
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awesome report!
obviously this is still the preseason but who knows, if they can carry the momentum week in and week out to the season we may just see what Rodgers can do in the playoffs. that is something i want to see as a Packer fan and as someone who trusts in Rodgers. plus i want some bragging rights over my buddies here in the great white north who dont believe this team can go anywhere!
Thanks man. I know the Browns suck badly, then didn't show everything they'll do in the regular season and it's only a preseason game. But, first of all, neither did we show everything we'll be using, specially on D. Second and most important, it's not that we won, it's the way. Every game last year we couldn't begin scoring. Our offense only picked up the pace on the second quarter. Second of all, we SUCKED in stopping the run. The only play that the browns ran for more than 3 yards was the Wr reverse. That is awesome. And a lot of our medium guys (Jolly, Bishop, James Jones) showed that we have depth. It's preseason but it's very encouraging.
Oh, and after further review, :chisux:
 
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The way I see preseason, it's about what you can project to the regular season. You can't project that Sutton will be a great back because he performed well. He missed some blocks at the passing game, for instance. You can't project that Bishop will be the starter because he had 1 sack 1 int and a lot of hurries against the browns 2nd and 3rd teams. But you can project that both Sutton and Bishop showed much more than other guys playing in the same circunstances. You can project that those guys can BECOME very good players.
About the bears, it doesn't mean Cutler isn't a great Qb. But it sure means that he was used to one type of Wr corps (big), and now needs to perform well with another type, a less talented, less physical and, specially, less experienced one. It means that your D, specially the Cb, don't have that great depth. But it also showed that Urlacher and Harris can return to form...
 

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Here in Cleveland the fans are pretty mad about the performance the Browns had. One local sports talk host said that if the two teams left their starters in the whole game the Pack would have beat them 55-0. I know that we should not get that excited about preseason, but I am pumped. The team is young and Rodgers will have time to jell even more with his receivers and the D will be able to get chemistry, the sky is the limit for this team. I know that on the same sports channel the host always says that he is not sold on Rodgers and after the game all he could say is he looked like Joe Willy Namath. Cleveland would love to have a young, gifted QB like Rodgers and a stud WR like Jennings who simply shows up and lets his play speak for itself. Edwards likes to claim that he is a top 5 WR, but his play says otherwise. On the Packers, Edwards would be lucky to beat out Ruvelle Martin. I root for the Browns when they don't play the Pack, you can clearly see it is two teams headed in different directions. I am glad the Pack has a competent GM and they don't change coaches every few years. If the Packers current core group of players stay together and healthy I think they will be a force for a long time; much like the Patriots. The Pack finally has playmakers on both sides of the ball and depth to get them through injuries. I have given up on Brohm; I may be a little biased since I did not like the pick to begin. Brohm looks lost out there and can possibly still turn it around, but looks like he needs major help. This is going to be a great season.:jester:
 

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The thing I look for in preseason are the intangibles. How much heart do they have? What is their energy level and hustle? Are the disciplined or are there a lot of dumb penalties? How are both the lines getting off the ball? Are we hitting hard? Is the special team staying in their zones? Are we getting our teams in on time in the rotations?

Then I look for guys with that little extra schutzpa. I saw some of that with the fullback and with Sutton. I saw that with Bishop.. I didn't see any of that with Hawk.

Whether the win or lose doesn't phase me. Our first team looks much better than theirs both offensively and defensively. So did our second team.

Now we play the next game and I look for the same things. Game 3 is a tune up game for the opener. Game 4 is let's not get anyone hurt and is meaningless.

My prediction is that if the offensive line can block at all we have a chance to win the division.
 

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Preseason is a good time to see how well your Lines are playing. If they are getting blown off the ball or can't protect the QB in preseason, your season will be long and hard. I liked what I saw from our O-line and D-line. I think that is a good sign.
 

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