Morning Buzz: Packers preparing for preseason
Aaron NaglerWelcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers and the NFL from around the web and here at PackersNews.com. Grab a strong cup of coffee, or brew some English breakfast tea if that’s your thing, and sit back and get caught up on everything you need to know about the Packers.
We start with Eric Baranczyk and Pete Dougherty’s analysis of what we saw on Family Night and an overview of where the team stands at this point in camp.
If Rollins and Randall keep playing well, Capers will have some leeway getting King into the lineup. Capers doesn’t like starting rookies as it is, and he doesn’t want to throw King in there immediately and have the rookie’s confidence crushed if he struggles in real games. But the Packers eventually need this guy playing a lot in 2017.
Jones has been playing mostly at inside linebacker in the “nitro” package with the No. 2 defense — Morgan Burnett is there with the starters. It’s clear Capers is going to use that defense a lot this season, probably more than any other personnel group. That’s the league now. You need at least one linebacker with a defensive back’s cover ability to match up in the passing game.
Burnett will be hard to displace from that starting spot this year. He has so much experience (in his eighth NFL season) and still is a good athlete at age 28. But from what Jones has shown in his short time with the team, it’s a given he’ll play, either to rest Burnett or to match up with specific personnel or down-and-distances.
Be sure to catch Michael Cohen’s latest podcast:
Michael and Ryan Wood lead with Aaron Ripkowski’s Family Night fumble in their latest Notebook:
Pete writes on Dean Lowry’s impressive play throughout camp and on Family Night:
Pete and I gave some quick thoughts after the Family Night practice:
The Packers released their initial depth chart:
The Family Night fireworks were impressive:
Elsewhere, Peter King leads his Monday Morning Quarterback column with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
Look around this classic old football town. It’s changing—in a big way. There’s a new luxury hotel, Lodge Kohler, across the street from Lambeau Field, a cornerstone to a new year-round fun-and-games Titletown District. (Bocce. Sled hill. Big park. Apartment complex. Medical complex.) Amazing hotel. You order room-service on the in-room bedside tablet; there are ground-floor suites with terraces and grills and fire pits, less than 100 yards from admission gates to Lambeau Field. Shiny and huge Hinterland Brewery has relocated here, with a couple of highbrow restaurants (there’s venison meatloaf) and 12 local brews on tap. There’s also an indoor Johnsonville tailgate house in the Lambeau lot, impressive and logical for frigid days.
As I looked over the lush landscape Friday, I couldn’t help but think: I hope the Packers thank their lucky stars for Aaron Rodgers.
Aaron Rodgers and his friends took a Lambeau Leap after Family Night:
Rob Demovsky writes on the need for the defense to limit the explosive plays that continually killed them last season:
Kevin King was impressed by the turnout for Family Night:
ACME Packing Company has a review of Saturday night’s practice:
As does Cheesehead TV:
Packer Nation put together a highlight reel of Packers interceptions against Russell Wilson:
The Power Sweep looks at Vince Biegel’s place on the depth chart:
Kyle puts it all in perspective: