Green Bay Packers: Top 5 things to watch against Patriots

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Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Backup Quarterbacks

The past two years Aaron Rodgers has suffered an injury that required a backup quarterback to at least get some playing time. This offseason, the Packers decided to promote Scott Tolzien to back up Rodgers when they didn’t re-sign Matt Flynn.

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The Packers also traded up in the draft to select Brett Hundley and signed Matt Blanchard, who has had some solid moments during training camp.

These preseason games will be crucial for the backup quarterbacks to prove they can come into a regular season game, if need be, and at least be a serviceable quarterback. The Packers don’t want to go through another 2013 season where they went through three backup quarterbacks when Rodgers was out with a broken clavicle.

If Rodgers does play in the first preseason game against the New England Patriots, he won’t be seeing a lot of snaps. This will be the perfect opportunity for Tolzien to show the Packers that he is capable enough to come into a game and relieve Rodgers if the occasion arises.

This is also an important game for Hundley, because he has been inconsistent at best during training camp. If he can begin to show promise and play well in a preseason game, it will give the Packers a better sense of confidence regarding their trading up for him and keeping him on the roster as the third quarterback.

Don’t sleep on Blanchard. He’s shown moments in camp that could tempt the Packers in keeping him as the third backup quarterback. If he continues to play well during preseason games, the Packers may have an interesting piece in Blanchard either by being trade bait, practice squad, or pushing for that third quarterback spot.

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