The Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots will return to Ray Nitschke Field for the second of two joint practices in Green Bay on Thursday. The two teams were on the field for over two hours of work, featuring several 11-on-11 periods, during Wednesday’s first practice.
Can Jordan Love and the Packers offense pick up where they left off? Will the Packers defensive front continue dominating? Can Anders Carlson get off the rollercoaster for one day? Stay tuned.
Packers Wire will track all the news and highlights from Thursday’s joint practice, including LaFleur’s pre-practice press conference.
Rough day for Packers ends
And that’s it for joint practices. Patriots were the better team today. pic.twitter.com/LiaWQIH7Rh
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 17, 2023
Pats score another two-minute TD
Bailey Zappe leads Pats second-string offense on TD drive in 2-minute drill against #Packers backup defense.
Patriots 2, Packers 1.
Third string coming up.
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) August 17, 2023
The Patriots second-team defense also scored a touchdown on the two-minute drive. Rough series for Green Bay’s defense.
No. 2 offense gets play of the day
Absolute scenes at Ray Nitschke Field. With four seconds left and Packers backup O down 28-21 with four seconds left, Clifford lofts a prayer into end zone under pressure. Pats drop INT and WR Cody Chrest catches deflection for TD. Packers storm field and Jaire lets Pats hear it.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 17, 2023
A wild practice gets a wild play. Of course.
Packers defense also loses two-minute
Right after Jaire Alexander (on the field) and Jabril Peppers (on the sideline) finish chirping each other, Mac Jones hits DeVante Parker for a 44-yard TD on a bomb down the left sideline over Rasul Douglas to win two minute.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 17, 2023
Quick two-minute drive for the Patriots, who got DeVante Parker in the end zone on a deep ball over Rasul Douglas. New England won both two-minute periods of 11-on-11, first team vs. first team.
Love picked to start two-minute
Jordan Love’s 2-minute drill opened with an interception to Patriots DB Marcus Jones. Love badly underthrew Samori Toure on a corner to the right sideline. Jones undercut the throw, tipped in the air and caught it going to the ground.
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) August 17, 2023
The Packers’ two-minute started with a Jordan Love interception…
…and ended with a Luke Musgrave drop. After a strong day on Wednesday, a lot of inconsistency on Thursday.
16 seconds left. 3rd and 2 from the Pats 18. Down 7. No timeouts left.
Pbu on a throw to wicks.
10 secs left – 4th down.
Love buys time, finds Musgrave in the end zone, perfect ball, Musgrave goes to get it, and drops the game tying touchdown. Been that kinda day. https://t.co/huW18gFNND
— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) August 17, 2023
Red zone for Packers O
Packers No. 1 offense ran six plays from the 12, 9, 7, 5, 4 and 3 against Patriots D. Jordan Love threw TDs to Christian Watson on first and sixth play. Four incompletions in between, including a pick by Kyle Dugger in the back of the end zone on a pass intended for Musgrave.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 17, 2023
Good and bad here, obviously. Good: throwing touchdown passes to Christian Watson, who has been tough in the red zone during camp. The bad: four misses, including a pick.
Love to Watson TD
Love – Watson – Touchdown first play of red zone. Watson won clean. Perfect throw from 10.
— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) August 17, 2023
Jordan Love to Christian Watson for a touchdown to open the red-zone period. Per Andy Herman, a “perfect throw” from Love.
Coaches trying to settle players
Caption: Stop fighting. pic.twitter.com/LRPWOhnAkP
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) August 17, 2023
Things already getting heated
Less than 10 snaps into practice, and we’ve had two scuffles already.
First one, a #Patriots player shoved a Packer(?) when getting up off the ground.
Second one, a #Patriots CB was pissed cuz Malik Heath blocked him past the 1st Down marker. 🤷♂️
— Marques Eversoll (@MarquesEversoll) August 17, 2023
Day 1 went by without much of an incident. Day 2 might be a different story. Two scuffles to start team periods of practice. It could be a long day in Green Bay if tensions are already high.
Offensive line setup
Packers starting offense in 11v11:
Bak-Jenkins-Myers-Runyan-Tom
Watson-Doubs-Dillon-Jones-Musgrave
Love
— Paul Bretl (@Paul_Bretl) August 17, 2023
With David Bakhtiari back, the starting offensive line is Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan Jr. and Zach Tom. This has been the most used combination in camp and is looking more and more like the most likely Week 1 configuration.
Kenny Clark returns
Clark and Bakh back practicing, as is Tariq Carpenter.
Still no: Ballentine, Stokes, Gaines, Goodson, Nichols, Campbell, C. Jones, Melton, Tenuta, T. Davis
— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) August 17, 2023
The Packers defensive front was dominant on Day 1. Now, Kenny Clark will return from a back injury. Linebacker Tariq Carpenter is also back.
Bakhtiari practicing
David Bakhtiari is practicing. pic.twitter.com/uYnqYm7jRU
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) August 17, 2023
Just as Matt LaFleur said, David Bakhtiari is on the field and practicing on Thursday. He was out Wednesday. This might be Bakhtiari’s only on-field work this week considering he’s unlikely to play in the preseason game on Saturday night.
A few injury updates
Coach Matt LaFleur said Jayden Reed, who got shaken up late in practice on Wednesday, will go through individual drills on Thursday before the team determines if he’ll do 11-on-11 periods.
LaFleur also said the plan is for left tackle David Bakhtiari to practice on Thursday. He was out on Wednesday.
Matt LaFleur's pre-practice press conference
— LaFleur on Day 1: “It was a great day of work.”
— LaFleur said the Packers would likely have two sets of joint practices every summer moving forward. Green Bay has faced Cincinnati and New England this year.
— On Karl Brooks and Colby Wooden: Both have provided valuable interior pass-rush during camp.
— On QBs during Day 1: Patriots do a nice job of disguising coverages, both Jordan Love and Sean Clifford handled situations well. “Really beneficial for our guys to see those looks.”
— On Luke Musgrave: Pushing the limit to get the most out of them. He has a really unique skill set, can really run. “We’re going to keep pushing it.”
— On Jordan Love playing time in preseason: Still determining plan moving forward.
— Plan is for David Bakhtiari to practice on Thursday.
— Confident Romeo Doubs can consistently beat press coverage.
— Operation has been “mostly solid” on field goal attempts during camp.
— Not sure if Jayden Reed will do team periods during today practice. He will go through individual drills first. Reed was shaken up to end Wednesday’s practice.
Day 1 recap
For more on Day 1 of joint practices, check out the following links:
News and highlights from Day 1 of Packers joint practices with Patriots
Promising performance from Packers QB Jordan Love in midst of confusion from Patriots defense
Watch: Jordan Love hits Christian Watson for long TD pass during practice vs. Patriots
