Packers Camp Insider: Dean Lowry disruptive on defense
Thumbs up
Dean Lowry, a fourth-round pick last year, has had arguably a better start to training camp than the defensive lineman drafted ahead of him, first-rounder Kenny Clark. Both have been working with the starters when the Packers go with their base defense that includes three linemen (Lowry, Clark and Mike Daniels), though the Packers don’t play that personnel often. They play nickel defense most of the time, and in the two-minute drill Saturday night, with the No. 1 offense matched with the No. 1 defense, Lowry, not Clark, was paired with Daniels at inside rusher. That means Lowry has been a better pass rusher than Clark so far in camp. Lowry didn’t have obvious sacks in practice Saturday – there’s no touching the quarterbacks, so sacks often are hard gauge – but he did draw a holding penalty on rookie guard Geoff Gray on one play. We’re more than a week into camp now, and Lowry still is ahead of Clark, so that means Lowry has kept playing well after his good showing in the first few days of camp. The Packers are going to need plenty of Clark, especially with rookie third-round pick Montravius Adams sidelined with a foot injury and Letroy Guion suspended for the first four games.
Thumbs down
Mason Crosby has had an excellent training camp – until Saturday night. Going into the night he was 22-for-23 on field-goal attempts ranging from 33 yards to the low 50s, and his lone miss was off the top left upright. But then Saturday night, in the last period of practice with the crowd cheering, Crosby went only 5-for-11, including four misses in a row. He made his first four kicks from 33 to 35 yards, but then missed six of his last seven. The misses were from 40, 42, 48, and three straight from 50. That makes him 27-for-34 for camp. Crosby is an 11th-year pro and has endured a rough patch to remain one of the most reliable kickers in the league, so it’s hard to get too alarmed long term about his bad showing Saturday night. But it was still a little startling to see him miss his final four attempts.
Injury report
Two injured players didn’t practice, defensive lineman Montravius Adams (foot) and tight end Beau Sandland (knee). Two other players, Demetri Goodson (knee) and Vince Biegel (foot), still haven’t passed their physicals and are on the PUP list.
Bits and pieces
»The Packers had a rough go on both sides of the ball in two two-minute drills near the end of practice, one with the starters (including Aaron Rodgers) going against each other, the other with No. 2s (Brett Hundley at quarterback). On the first, Rodgers moved the offense to the 25 but then fullback Aaron Ripkowski had the ball stripped by Kenny Clark on a draw play and the defense recovered. Each side had a penalty on that drive, too, the defense for having too many men on the field, the offense for a false start by Jahri Evans. The same for the second-teamers, Malachi Dupre dropped a third-down conversion from Hundley (the offense converted on fourth down). And again, both sides had a penalty, the defense for offsides on Jayrone Elliott, the offense false start on tackle Adam Pankey.
»In a punting period facing a live rush, Justin Vogel first punted from the 50 trying to put the ball inside the 10. His four punts hit or were fielded at the 13, 7, 14 and 8. He then hit four punts from his own 35 and averaged 44.7 yards and 4.44-second hang time.
»The Packers’ No. 2 offensive line featured, from left tackle to right, Jason Spriggs, Kofi Amichia, Don Barclay, Justin McCray and Kyle Murphy. The No. 3 line, left to right, was Adam Pankey, Thomas Evans, Lucas Patrick, Geoff Gray and Robert Leff.
»A partial crew of NFL officials worked the practice, and In the one-on-one pass coverage drill one of the league officials called receiver Geronimo Allison for offensive interference when he caught a deep ball on Quinten Rollins. It wasn’t the kind blatant push off that a ref can’t miss and makes you wonder if officials might be looking more closely at offensive interference, though that wasn’t included in the points of emphasis when the officials met with the media this week.
» Official attendance for Family Night was 63,156
Practice schedule
No practice Sunday. The Packers' next practice will begin at 12:15 p.m. Monday at Ray Nitschke Field. In case of inclement weather, practice will be moved inside the Don Hutson Center and closed to the public.