Green Bay Packers: 13 Quick Observations from Preseason Finale

What do the Green Bay Packers do with all these defensive backs?

Kabion Ento and Isaac Yiadom at cornerback and Christian Uphoff, along with Innis Gaines at safety–none of these players really did themselves any favors on Saturday. Ento and Gaines both missed tackles, an issue that has plagued both of them this preseason. Yiadom struggled in coverage while we didn’t see much of Uphoff at all.

At cornerback, I still believe that Ento’s body of work this summer is enough to keep him on this roster over Yiadom, not to mention that he’s also cheaper and is under team control beyond 2021. At safety, however, that really seems like a coin flip and ultimately will be decided by special teams play.

Jonathan Garvin earned the fourth edge role

The fourth edge rusher role is another key roster battle that still has to be decided, but it was Jonathan Garvin who seized the opportunity in front of him on Saturday. While Chauncey Rivers was credited with the sack, Josh Allen was flushed his way because of Garvin creating pressure from the other side. Upon rewatching the game, there were also two other very good pass rush reps from Garvin that pressured the quarterback–two of which came against Buffalo’s starting offensive line.

"“Garvin’s a damn good football player,” said OLB coach Mike Smith via Sports Illustrated. “The one thing I love about him is he knows who he is. He’s not going to go out there and try to be flashy and do all this finesse stuff. It’s his strength. You can ask any of those offensive linemen; they struggle with him. He’s still learning – a lot like Rashan was his first year – but he’s going to be a damn good football player. One of the smartest, if not the smartest, in the room.”"

To his credit, there were some nice plays from Rivers as well, but you can’t deny Garvin’s upside, while it was a quiet game for Tipa Galeai. Smith would mention a few weeks ago that special teams play would determine who the fourth edge rusher was — admittedly, an area that Garvin needs to improve upon — but with the uncertainty around Za’Darius Smith’s status for Week 1, perhaps the coaching staff leans on defensive prowess more than what Mike Smith may have hinted at.

Way too many missed tackles

I’ll be curious to see what PFF ($$) tallies for this Green Bay Packers team, but there were way too many missed tackles on Saturday–which is often what you can expect when so many young players are on the field. As I mentioned above, Gaines and Ento were two of the biggest offenders, but there were others, including linebacker Ray Wilborn.