Everything That Happened at Practice 6 of Packers Training Camp

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The temperature was cooler but the intensity remained hot at Green Bay Packers training camp on Tuesday. Including a breakthrough play by Matthew Golden, here is everything you need to know about the sixth practice of camp.

Jordan Love’s Day

Jordan Love had a productive day, going 11-of-14 with one touchdown and one interception, both of which will be highlighted in a moment.

Love was sharp during one-on-ones to set the stage for the 11-on-11 action. After a quick pass to Jayden Reed, Love went downfield to Reed, who bobbled the ball at the sideline against coverage by safety Kitan Oladapo. The play was ruled complete on the field, though Reed might not have had control. Whatever, that’s not on Love.

During the next period, Love went play-action and hit Matthew Golden against safety Evan Williams, then checked it down to Josh Jacobs as cornerback Kamal Hadden came free on a blitz.

Love’s hot start was temporarily derailed during a third-down period. First, he was intercepted. Second, there were two receivers in the area and Williams was the closest to the pass. After a checkdown to Jacobs, Love went deep to Mecole Hardman on third-and-4. Hardman dropped the ball, perhaps because there was another receiver just yards away. Finally, on third-and-1, Love faked the handoff, booted to his right and threw a strike to Romeo Doubs.

All told, the Packers went 3-of-6 on third down, with Love going 2-of-5.

The next period was highlighted by his long touchdown pass. Finally, in the last period of the day, Love threw incomplete to Golden on the sideline, though Nate Hobbs was called for a questionable pass-interference penalty. Next, Love went play-action and connected with Romeo Doubs, who got free from Hobbs for a catch-and-run gain of about 35. On the No. 1 offense’s final play, Love and Doubs connected on a slant for a first down.

Player of the Day: WR Matthew Golden

First-round pick Matthew Golden’s strong start to training camp continued with an excellent day.

“I feel like that was one of my best practices,” he said. “I felt more comfortable today. Just being able to go out there and run, knowing my assignment and my alignment. I feel like everything is starting to come along.”

Golden has caught a lot of passes dating to OTAs. But none of them were the home runs you might expect for a player with 4.29 speed in the 40. That happened on Tuesday.

On third-and-4 from the 46, Jordan Love threw a perfect pass to Golden, who was streaking away from cornerback Nate Hobbs and safety Evan Williams. Golden caught the pass, stepped on the gas and scored a 54-yard touchdown. Several teammates and coaches chased him downfield to celebrate.

“I think they were in man coverage and MG was on the back side,” Love said. “They did a good job guarding our front-side concept, but I just worked back and he ran a double move and he did a really good job selling it. 

“It’s a play that we actually ran yesterday, a similar play, and I think he did a great job selling it, committing to the first route before he broke out, and I think that’s what helped get him open. Those are the easy ones. Just lob it up there for him and let him go finish it. He’s been doing some really good things.”

For Golden, it was a combination of athleticism and increasing experience.

“It was a route that I ran earlier in the week,” he said. “As days went on, that’s something that I wanted to get better at. I had that route again today, I did something a little bit different, gave him my eyes, had the DB bite under and took the route high, and Jordan gave me a good ball.”

Earlier, Golden had an explosive gain on a bootleg. Defensive end Lukas Van Ness charged into the backfield, Love stopped on a dime and floated one to Golden for a gain of about 15.

“That’s just us playing the drill,” Love said of the pressure, “and that was a play that we had dialed up to try and throw back on a corner route to Tuck(er Kraft), and Van Ness did a good job of kind of killing the play right there, so you’ve got to find that next option of MG running across, one where he’s kind of coming scot-free and you just kind of lay it up for him on the sideline.”

Play of the Day: Xavier McKinney

Xavier McKinney looks every bit the All-Pro player he was last season, when he finished second in the NFL with eight interceptions. About midway through practice, Jordan Love fired a ball over the middle to Romeo Doubs. McKinney, however, is so smart and covers so much ground. He got his hand in front of Doubs’ hands and tipped the ball to himself three or four times before securing his second interception of camp.

Packers Injury Updates

New injuries: WR Dontayvion Wicks (calf), RB MarShawn Lloyd (groin), LG Aaron Banks (back), WR Savion Williams (unknown).

Old injuries: receiver Christian Watson (knee), linebacker Collin Oliver (hamstring), offensive lineman John Williams (back).

Returning from injuries: None.

The team does not think Lloyd was injured on Nate Hobbs’ questionable hit from Monday.

“You never really know, but it did look like he stuck his foot in the ground and he never put it back in the ground when he had the opportunity to,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice. “That would lead me to believe that it happened prior to the hit.”

Banks was on the field for the start of practice but quickly went inside the Don Hutson Center because of a back injury that has greatly limited him for the start of camp. He watched a chunk of practice from a door outside the Hutson Center.

Savion Williams, who practiced on Monday following a concussion last week, went through some individual drills before walking off with a trainer.

Packers Practice Highlights

– During one-on-ones, Matthew Golden and Carrington Valentine had three battles. On the first, Valentine was flagged on the first for his overly aggressive coverage. On the second, Love underthrew his deep shot to Golden, but Golden made an excellent adjustment to make the catch. On the third, Golden threatened Valentine with his speed, stopped on a dime and caught the ball at the sideline.

– On the first running play of the day, Josh Jacobs took a toss to the right for a nice gain. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich was fired up.

– Malik Willis’ first pass of the day was a completion to Mecole Hardman in which running back Chris Brooks had an excellent pass-protection snap against Brenton Cox.

– Moments later, Brooks was stopped in the backfield by Edgerrin Cooper.

– First-year safety Omar Brown, an undrafted free agent last year who spent the season on Green Bay’s practice squad, grabbed his second pick of the summer when he intercepted by Malik Willis. Trey Hill gave up pressure, which might have impacted the throw.

– Third-year quarterback Sean Clifford had some strong moments, but he threw two terrible passes during one-on-ones, then fumbled a shotgun snap.

– Left tackle Rasheed Walker was guilty of a false start and replaced by Jordan Morgan.

– During a third-down period, Emanuel Wilson converted on third-and-1, though Devonte Wyatt might have had a tackle for loss in a live setting.

– Mecole Hardman, who has a strong history as a returner, muffed a punt. After practice, he was on the JUGS.

Live Period

The backups had a full-speed period with live tackling. Here are some of those highlights:

– On the first play, Malik Willis’ quick pass to rookie running back Jalen White was incomplete because of linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper’s hit on White. Hopper had an excellent day.

– On the next play, White was tackled in the backfield by safety Kitan Oladapo.

– That set up third-and-11, which Willis converted with a 20-yard strike to undrafted rookie receiver Will Sheppard.

– Rookie linebacker Jamon Johnson, who is the signal-caller for the No. 3 defense, stuffed rookie linebacker Amar Johnson.

– On third-and-9, Willis went deep up the left sideline to Sheppard but was intercepted by rookie cornerback Tyron Herring.

– Defensive end Arron Mosby made two excellent plays, first ruining a bootleg by Willis and then stuffing Johnson.

– The day ended on fourth-and-1, with the Georgia tandem of Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse blowing up a run by Israel Abanikanda.

Packers Lineup Notes

– Elgton Jenkins returned to practice on Monday and was limited to individual drills. On Tuesday, he took some 11-on-11 snaps. He was mostly joined by left tackle Rasheed Walker, left guard Jordan Morgan, right guard Sean Rhyan and right tackle Zach Tom.

“It’s awesome,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “Being able to get him back out there and, obviously, with him moving from guard to center, that’s one of those things we talked about where every rep is valuable to be able to get those snaps and be on the same page. With him being the guy making all the calls in the run game for the O-line and just being dialed in with everything, it’s good to have him out there and keep building him up in there. But he’s the leader of the O-line room for sure, he’s the vet in there, and anytime you get him back out there is nice.”

– As has been the case all summer, the No. 1 secondary consisted of Keisean Nixon and Nate Hobbs at corner, Javon Bullard at safety, and Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams at safety. At this point, it seems Carrington Valentine will be the odd man out in the secondary competition.

– The No. 2s on Tuesday frequently consisted of Kamal Hadden and Valentine at corner, Kalen King in the slot, and Evan Williams and Zayne Anderson at safety.

– Players on three or four of the special-teams units include linebackers Kristian Welch, Isaiah Simmons, Ty’Ron Hopper and defensive backs Zayne Anderson, Carrington Valentine and Javon Bullard and running back Chris Brooks.

Packers Training Camp Schedule

After three consecutive days of practice, the players will get a day off on Wednesday. They’ll return to the field for practices at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday and Friday before Saturday’s Family Night.

Quote of the Day

Before practice, coach Matt LaFleur was critical of the team’s ball security, and he mentioned one player by name. “Certainly, we all know what kind of player Tucker Kraft is and can be. He can’t allow Evan Williams to reach around and punch a ball out,” which happened on Monday.

After practice, Kraft noted that offensive players aren’t allowed to stiff-arm defensive players, which would have prevented Williams’ strip.

“That’s just a yes-sir, no-sir mentality with Coach at this point,” Kraft said. “You want to obviously keep the ball in the offense’s possession as long as possible. Bus fine in my opinion. Whatever.”

What’s a bus fine?

“Throwing somebody under the bus, which he did just do that to me.”