Green Bay Packers v. Raiders: The good, the bad, and the ugly

The Green Bay Packers have wrapped up their third preseason game of 2019 and here is the good, the bad and the ugly from what we saw.

Well thank goodness this game came to an end and is one that I wish the Green Bay Packers never had to play, however, that is something we will discuss shortly. Despite some oddities, a football game was still played and we have our takeaways from what we saw.

Due to the field conditions, we didn’t see any of the significant starters which gave us the opportunity to watch a number of players who are in the midst of position battles or just fighting for a roster spot on the final 53.

So without wasting any more time, let’s dive into the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Green Bay Packers’ third preseason game.

The Good

Trevor Davis

In case you had forgotten about Davis with his absence in recent weeks, he quickly reminded everyone that he not only deserves a roster spot but also could be a valuable weapon in this Matt LaFleur offense.

A few of Davis’ notable plays included a 17-yard punt return, a diving catch along the sidelines, a jet sweep that went 18 yards and skying over his defender for a touchdown. Between special teams and the offense, Davis would finish with 101 all-purpose yards just in the first half.

The Davis’ injury combined with the emergence of Darrius Shepherd and Allen Lazard, many had forgotten that Davis had put together a very good performance during the offseason programs and carried that momentum over to training camp.

Davis’ speed and agility make him an ideal fit for LaFleur’s offensive scheme and we all know that he can be a weapon in the return game. Now it appears that his route running looks much sharper and he could be a potential threat in the passing game. Needless to say, don’t count Davis out just yet.

Tim Boyle

The backup quarterback role is still up for grabs and through the first two weeks, neither Boyle or DeShone Kizer had really taken control. However against Oakland, Boyle – who played the entire first half – would start off slowly but quickly got on track and looked pretty darn good.

Boyle finished the game 16/25 for 191 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was a beautiful pass to Trevor Davis in tight coverage. Overall, Boyle has put together a very sneaky good preseason and has put himself in position to win the job.

The Bad

Penalties

It’s the preseason and it was played mostly by backups, but we saw the Green Bay Packers make quite a few penalties. In the game they finished with 12 all together that accounted for 127 yards with a number of them coming against the offensive line on running plays.

The ILB situation

This was already a lean position on the team and with an injury to Curtis Bolton in Thursday night’s game, it has taken an even bigger hit.

Blake Martinez didn’t travel with the team to Canada but should be ready to go come week one. Outside of him, there are a number of question marks that remain. As we all know, Oren Burks has been out with a pectoral injury and in his absence, Bolton looked like he could take over as the other starting inside linebacker but he left the game in the first half and was later seen on crutches.

Ty Summers had a nice debut but the tackling issues that he had at TCU have been quite evident here in Green Bay. And while James Crawford is a nice special teams player, defensively he looks lost and doesn’t have the coverage ability that the Packers are looking for.

Safeties Raven Greene, Josh Jones, and Ibraheim Campbell could each see plenty of snaps at the inside linebacker position and GM Brian Gutekunst should consider looking outside of the organization for solutions.

The Ugly

Field conditions

I alluded to this above, but with the field conditions in question prior to the game, they shouldn’t have even played.

The field goal post from the CFL setup left a “hole” in the endzone and as a result, we saw the field shortened to 80 yards and no kick-offs were allowed. As a precaution, Matt LaFleur sat most starters that are expected to see significant playing time this season.

On the first series, we saw Tim Boyle slip as he tried to escape the pocket, then shortly after on a punt return, Trevor Davis made a cut and lost his footing. And the entire night we saw receivers struggling to make clean breaks in their routes.

There were many instances like this and unfortunately, it may have led to some injuries. Most notably was Equanimeous St. Brown who left with what could be a season-ending injury. We also saw Curtis Bolton, Cole Madison, and Tyler Lancaster all suffer lower-body injuries.

The NFL should have had plenty of time to prepare and make sure the field was suitable for play, and if for whatever reason they didn’t, why would they choose this venue?

This was one of those games that just couldn’t end quickly enough and it ended with the Green Bay Packers losing a number of players to injuries. The NFL has to do better.