The Green Bay Packers are heading home after a humbling couple of days in Denver. Coach Matt LaFleur believed his starters and veterans got humbled in a joint practice on Friday, and Sunday night’s 27-2 drubbing — featuring mostly backups vs. Broncos starters early on — was humbling for the rest of the roster.
Wake up call? The Packers need to regroup before an important final week of the preseason, which features a joint practice and the preseason finale against the Baltimore Ravens.
Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the Packers’ lopsided preseason loss to the Broncos:
The Good
The Packers rested 31 starters, including quarterback Jordan Love and most starters on offense and defense, so there were no season-altering injuries. At the end of the day, the top priority coming out of the preseason is health of the roster, especially at the important positions. Did the Packers starters dominate in the joint practice? No. Did the Packers backups show up in Denver? Also no. But it appears the Packers are heading back to Green Bay in a good shape on the injury front. Rookie linebacker Ralen Goforth (concussion) was the only in-game announced injury.
The Bad
The No. 2 defense vs. Bo Nix and the Broncos offensive starters. Sure, this was backups vs. starters, but the Packers still had Lukas Van Ness, Karl Brooks, Colby Wooden and Kingsley Enagbare up front, and rookies Javon Bullard and Evan Williams were both on the field alongside veterans in the secondary. Nix sliced and diced, completing 8-of-9 passes for 80 yards while leading two scoring drives. It would have been 14-0 after two drives had a penalty not negated a touchdown pass. Collectively, the second-team defense had a rough night against a rookie quarterback.
The Ugly
The Packers passing game. Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt, who are competing to be the No. 2 quarterback, completed 16 of 26 passes for 95 yards. Both quarterbacks had a turnover — Clifford threw a bad pick, while Pratt lost a fumble on a sack. The passing game’s longest gain was 11 yards. Pass protection was inconsistent. Completions down the field were almost non-existent. The Packers averaged 3.7 yards per attempt and 5.9 yards per completion. LaFleur’s team went to Denver hoping to gain some clarity at quarterback behind Jordan Love but are returning home with a lot more question marks.