More Pre-Season Attrition In Packers Loss » Brats & Beer

August 31, 2007
posted under: Packers, Pre-season

There’s a school of thought out there that says the pre-season is a worthless waste of time and talent, and I’m starting to move closer to that line of thinking after Noah Herron suffered a knee injury in last night’s 30-14 loss to the Titans. That brings the Packers down to two healthy backs. Assuming DeShawn Wynn gets demoted to the practice squad, if the regular season were to start this weekend Green Bay would have to go with the Two (K)Coreys: Korey Hall and Corey White.

Thankfully the first game of the season against the Eagles is still a week away, so hopefully — maybe, possibly — Brandon Jackson can recover from his concussion and eventually Vernand Morency will join him once his injury is healed. It will also be interesting to see what Ted Thompson comes up with as far as trades and signing guys off the wire. The Packers still need depth at tight end as well as running back, so I’m hoping for good news after Saturday’s cutdown deadline.

About the only bright moments in last night’s game came early as Brett Favre led the first team offense on a touchdown drive. Greg Jennings and James Jones are both playing well and as soon as Driver gets back onto the field I think that combination is going to potent. Bubba Franks is also starting to show some flashes again which is really good news as well.

It was also good to hear that our #1 draft pick finally did something noteworthy, if not unexpected: Justin Harrell scored a touchdown. Larry Birdine made a nice play and got to Vince Young, forcing a fumble that Harrell took 18 yards for the score. While the play was a bit of a fluke, it should give the rookie some confidence and something to hang his hat on heading into the regular season.

Special teams, though, were not especially special last night. Jon Ryan’s longest punt was 61 yards but Tennessee returned it 22 yards, and then a 42-yard line drive was returned 70 yards for a touchdown. Punt returns for the Packers were almost non-existent and David Clowney muffed a kickoff return, letting the ball go out at the seven-yard line. A lot of work needs to be done by those units if the Packers are going to be successful.

And so we wait to see what the final 53-man roster looks like and who TT might bring in to augment depth at certain positions. We’ll also have to wait to see who gets healthy over the course of the week to start against the Iggles next Sunday.