Happy Tuesday, ladies and gentlemen. Incredibly, there are just two more full pads practices and four more total practices remaining in training camp. It feels like it’s going to last forever when it starts. Even more incredibly, we’re still not entirely sure who’s winning each position battle. I don’t feel like real football is coming soon, but it is, and that’s scary. Here’s your daily dose of Green Bay Packers news and links.

Rodgers talks about lack of schemes | Packers.com

You’ll be stunned to learn that the team does not do extensive gameplanning for preseason games.

Positive vibe carries rookie QB Coleman through ups and downs of football | Green Bay Press-Gazette

Nice story here by Wes Hodkiewicz.

Francois gets special notice | Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

I don’t think Francois needs to perform on special teams to make the team, but it certainly helps.

Packers Film Study: Can Alex Green Pass Protect? | Jersey Al’s

Most of you knew the answer was ‘yes’, but read on anyway.

Rodgers: Criticism of Harrell harsh, unfair | ESPN Wisconsin

Hopefully Harrell lights it up over the next two games and proves his coaches and teammates right.

In Defense of Graham Harrell | Brandon’s Packers Blog

Good point here about his teammates letting him down on a few occasions.

Bush believes it’s his time at cornerback | FOX Sports Wisconsin

…I have nothing against Jarrett Bush, but can Davon House’s shoulder please heal?

More from around SB Nation after the jump.

Michael Vick Injury: X-Rays Are Negative | SBNation.com

Good news, but we’ll see what the MRI says.

REPORT: Jaguars To Move To Multiple Cities, Moon | Big Cat Country

They can only move to OKC after they draft the franchise savior.

Finding The Origin Of Tamba Hali’s Suspension | Arrowhead Pride

If you’re looking for me you can find me on the block disobeying the laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw.

After Four Concussions (Not Three), It’s Time For The Colts To Release WR Austin Collie | Stampede Blue

If Austin Collie could retire to avoid being the future poster child for CTE, that would be great.

Lions Could Help Jets Fill Need At Right Tackle | Pride Of Detroit

Godser Cherilus could fetch the Lions a nice draft pick.

Could T-Jack Be Back? | Daily Norseman

Hah.

Let’s go all old school for a moment and simulate a flavor of two-a-days, two practice reports in one day! The talk among the crowd today was B.J. Coleman, with more than one voice asking why he wasn’t the backup instead of Graham Harrell. Part of this was because Coleman happened to ride the bike of a little girl whose family was sitting near me, so he did have a soft spot in their heart today. Despite any bias formed by this family and confirmation bias of those watching practice when Coleman’s play was highlighted consistently, part of this talk had to due with some good balls thrown by Coleman in practice today. Coleman being the backup is an interesting thought, but not necessarily one I would agree with right now. It’s true I’m not the biggest Harrell supporter at the moment, but he does look better (or at least more comfortable) than Coleman and has throughout all of camp. Neither has excelled or truly outshined the other in camp, for example today each threw an interception in practice and each have their share of missed throws. Unless a move is made, Harrell is the backup and there is no competition for that position.

Otherwise another beautiful day at training camp. Hard to believe that there aren’t many practices left. Soon the cuts will be coming down and then it’s time for the final 53 to prepare for the San Francisco 49ers. Today’s practice featured another familiar face returning to practice, Casey Hayward makes it tougher on Sam Shields, and Tommie Draheim takes pride in a little bike.

Biggest surprise of the day: Diondre Borel back in action. Number 19 was back in pads today and getting targets once again. Most of the targets tended to be short yardage plays, but targets are targets. It was good to see him healthy again. Hopefully we will get to see the Borel vs. Tori Gurley contest in earnest over the last two preseason games.

Pleasant surprise of the day: Jermichael Finley getting his groove back. I’m not sure I would say that Finley was the stand out best performer on offense, but it was great to see 88 catching passes and making plays. Today Finley was a key weapon in the red zone part of drills and was able to make some plays over the middle, turn and move the ball up the field quickly. Hopefully can stay loose on game day and let some of this transition to Sundays.

Disappointment of the day: Randall Cobb is just a step late. There were a few plays where Cobb was targeted and he was just a step behind where the ball was located. This happened with a different QB’s, but also in a close enough period of time that I don’t think it was just your garden variety overthrows. They could be, but my gut told me something more was happening. I still think that Cobb is going to be an exciting part of the offense, but his play has been a bit uneven as of late…..hopefully this will turn around soon.

Offensive performance of the day: The starting offensive line. There is a noticeable difference between what the starting O-line can do and what the backup o-line can do. I was going to highlight Cedric Benson or Alex Green here today, but really they were just running through some nice holes for the most part. For that I’m going to tip my hat to the big men up front.

Defensive performance of the day: Casey Hayward starts to even out his play. Hayward had his moments in camp today that were impressive. He had good coverage more than once forcing the incomplete pass. He also picked off Harrell on a jump ball pass intended for Gurley. Harrell threw the ball high intending for Gurley to go up and make a play. Hayward and Gurley both went up but Hayward was the one who came away with the ball. Most improtant though was the fact that Hayward didn’t give up many give up many big plays. If Hayward can continue to minimize this bad play it may not be good news for Sam Shields who has some catching up to do if he wants to get that starting position. Today Hayward and Jarrett Bush got most of the work with the ones, but Shields did get some reps with the ones in dime situations.

PA pay attention! Zone and power running. Funny story, due to some appointments today and when the post for yesterday’s practice went up I didn’t have an opportunity to check for questions for today. My wife did though and she texted me this question while I was actually at practice. Stroh did a good job answering the question and my observations at camp really echo his statement. The Packers primarily block out of a zone concept and a fair amount of runs used demonstrate this, but there more traditional power running schemes mixed in as well. This was true today as they were practicing their runs as it you see in some of the preseason games. Perhaps the most interesting play to me that I saw against Cleveland, and in camp today, was an off tackle run to the left out of the shotgun. Typically I think the best opportunity to run block would be behind Bryan Bulaga and Josh Sitton, but there the Packers were gaining five yards and seeing some nice holes behind T.J. Lang and Marshall Newhouse. Anyways, this was not a one cut ZBS style play, rather it was an old school off tackle run, just out of the shotgun formation.

Only at Packer Training Camp: The flat tire. The offensive linemen have to line up to take the smallest bike they can find. That’s the only explanation I can think of for how many times I see an extra large man on a bike that looks like it just lost the training wheels. Today that was the case for Tommie Draheim who had the bike’s pint-sized owner in toe carrying a helmet about as big as he was while wearing a child’s costume helmet. The best part though was the bike’s flat tire as Draheim peddled along. Got to hand it to him though, he just held his head high with a big smile as he slowly made his way up to the locker room.

PA’s controversial call: Harrell’s chicken and egg conundrum continues. Last weekend a large part of APC was wrapped up in the question of whether Harrell looked bad because he was playing bad or whether he looked bad because the pieces around him were bad. I’m sorry to say that this question wasn’t really answered today. Harrell had his share of missed passes, some poor decisions, and still does not throw a great deep ball (if he would have had a bit more distance on the pass to Gurley it wouldn’t of been picked off). At the same time there were multiple times where Harrell would throw a pass on the money and it would be dropped, or the receiver just wasn’t looking for the ball at all. Heck, at one point there was a botched snap from the center when Harrell was sitting in the shotgun. The buck has to stop with someone in an offense and that’s typically the QB, so I’m inclined to heap most of the blame on Harrell, but there is a good argument to be had for the pieces around him failing him as well.

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Look out, everybody, you get a double dose of practice notes today! Now that the offense has most of its main pieces back on the field and healthy, we can finally start to see things come together. Since the first team will play the whole first half on Thursday against the Bengals, the backups will probably be getting some substantial work as a scout team. Here are your notes from Monday’s late morning/early afternoon practice.

Andrew Datko sat out practice after leaving early on Sunday. That was the only new injury beyond the usual suspects who have been out: James Starks, Brandon Saine, Duane Bennett, Jon Hoese, Davon House, Desmond Bishop, Shaky Smithson, Derek Sherrod, Andrew Quarless, Frank Zombo, Johnny Jones, and Ray Dominguez (WH).
Notice a name missing from that list? Yes, that’s Diondre Borel, who was back practicing again on Monday (RD).
Ryan Taylor gave an early highlight in practice, when he knocked the blocking sled completely over on its side (TS).
Sam Shields had a few nice plays in coverage on Monday. He broke up a pass from Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings in the end zone (PD), then had another breakup while covering Tori Gurley on a deep route (TD).
Special teams notes! Dezman Moses took reps with both punt and kickoff coverage teams, while Tori Gurley spent time blocking on the kickoff return team (RD).
The only serious injury noted from practice was to Jerel Worthy, who appeared to get kicked in the groin (RD). He got up and rejoined practice a few minutes later. I’m fairly certain anyone can appreciate him wanting to sit a few plays out after that.
Gurley should have made a catch on a deep ball from Graham Harrell, but let the much smaller Casey Hayward wrestle the ball away from him for an interception (TD).
Rob Francois showed good coverage skills today, dropping back into zone and intercepting a pass from B.J. Coleman (TD, TS). He should be getting snaps in passing downs ahead of A.J. Hawk, in my opinion.
The secondary saw many different personnel groupings, with Anthony Levine and Sam Shields getting time in the number one dime defense (PD), Jerron McMillian playing with the ones in 7 on 7 drills (TD), and Jarrett Bush getting starter’s reps at right cornerback (JW). Tramon Williams even took a few snaps at RCB after spending almost all of training camp on the left side (WH).

And there you go, all the news that’s fit to print from Monday’s early practice. The team will be back in shells on Tuesday before making the trip to Cincinnati for Thursday’s game.

As always, my thanks to these tireless guys who have to suffer through football:

RD: Rob Demovsky
MV: Mike Vandermause
JW: Jason Wilde
TS: Tom Silverstein
WH: Wes Hodkiewicz
TD: Tyler Dunne
PD: Pete Dougherty
BC: Brian Carriveau
Pack: Packers.com

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This is going to be a short update for all of you today. As the preseason wears on and players improve, most of the good and bad performances from camp tend to come when the offense plays the defense. Unfortunately, most of this occurred inside the Don Hutson Center on Sunday due to weather conditions.

I’ll start with some news that I’m sure many of you are wondering about about, namely Cedric Benson. Yes, Benson was in pads today. Overall he looked okay. He had some nice cuts and showed good burst through the hole. Now, it’s very hard to tell what exactly he is like now since they don’t tackle. Most of the judgment on Benson will need to be saved until this Thursday. I will say that the crowd made sure to give him some extra welcome on Sunday. Every touch he had, whether it be a handoff or screen pass made it sound like he was going on a 60 yard TD strike.

After the jump you’ll find a truncated report but one filled with good news and limited disappointing including PA having to stop himself from singing the theme from Welcome Back Cotter, D.J. Williams makes a good play, and D.J. Smith continues to impress.

Biggest surprise of the day: Randall Cobb still being used as a RB in the shotgun. Despite the growing health of Alex Green and the arrival of Benson, Cobb got a few snaps with the #1 offense in the shotgun as a running back. This included having him pick up blitzers. Now this could be just practicing this role so it can be used in a game, or it could be a sign that the RB situation is worse than many think. Or it could just be him filling in for a play….although since it was the first snap for the offense I doubt that one. Either way you explain it in your head it’s an interesting development.

Pleasant surprise of the day: Welcome back to some familiar faces. Lots of vets who have had some nagging injuries came back in pads today including Jermichael Finley, Greg Jennings, John Kuhn, and Sam Shields. Some were getting targets early and often enough for me to see them in action (Finley and Jennings) others it was just good to see them back in action.

Disappointment of the day: Weather. It was shaping up to be a good practice and then thunder started and coach McCarthy pulled them up and took them inside. A shame.

Offensive player of the day: D.J. Williams makes a catch in traffic. Williams hasn’t made much noise since the start of camp, but he did have a good game against Cleveland and was having a good day today. He made the most impressive catch of the day in traffic around double coverage. It was a pretty throw by Graham Harrell and a prettier catch by Williams.

Defensive player of the day: D.J. Smith continues to impress. Smith had good coverage in practice today, sticking close to the man he was assigned to. Best play to highlight this would be a close catch for Finley. Finley nearly had the catch of the day bringing in a finger tips grab around three guys, but Smith knocked it away at the last second. If he can continue to make plays like this then the defense should be improved.

PA’s controversial call: James Jones is better than you think. Jones is one of those players in camp who will make a few plays, and key plays, but not flashy plays. Today he had two good grabs to keep the offense moving in their drills. This is similar to his play on Thursday night where he had some good grabs and runs after the catch to keep drives alive. Unfortunately people only remember his drops (like the one against SD) and then demand for him to be traded, but he is a pretty good WR.

Not a member of Acme Packing Company? Sign up below and start commenting. Everyone here is super fun. Check us out on social media for updates when we update as well.

Follow @AcmePackingCo

This is going to be a short update for all of you today. As the preseason wears on and players improve, most of the good and bad performances from camp tend to come when the offense plays the defense. Unfortunately, most of this occurred inside the Don Hutson Center on Sunday due to weather conditions.

I’ll start with some news that I’m sure many of you are wondering about about, namely Cedric Benson. Yes, Benson was in pads today. Overall he looked okay. He had some nice cuts and showed good burst through the hole. Now, it’s very hard to tell what exactly he is like now since they don’t tackle. Most of the judgment on Benson will need to be saved until this Thursday. I will say that the crowd made sure to give him some extra welcome on Sunday. Every touch he had, whether it be a handoff or screen pass made it sound like he was going on a 60 yard TD strike.

After the jump you’ll find a truncated report but one filled with good news and limited disappointing including PA having to stop himself from singing the theme from Welcome Back Cotter, D.J. Williams makes a good play, and D.J. Smith continues to impress.

Biggest surprise of the day: Randall Cobb still being used as a RB in the shotgun. Despite the growing health of Alex Green and the arrival of Benson, Cobb got a few snaps with the #1 offense in the shotgun as a running back. This included having him pick up blitzers. Now this could be just practicing this role so it can be used in a game, or it could be a sign that the RB situation is worse than many think. Or it could just be him filling in for a play….although since it was the first snap for the offense I doubt that one. Either way you explain it in your head it’s an interesting development.

Pleasant surprise of the day: Welcome back to some familiar faces. Lots of vets who have had some nagging injuries came back in pads today including Jermichael Finley, Greg Jennings, John Kuhn, and Sam Shields. Some were getting targets early and often enough for me to see them in action (Finley and Jennings) others it was just good to see them back in action.

Disappointment of the day: Weather. It was shaping up to be a good practice and then thunder started and coach McCarthy pulled them up and took them inside. A shame.

Offensive player of the day: D.J. Williams makes a catch in traffic. Williams hasn’t made much noise since the start of camp, but he did have a good game against Cleveland and was having a good day today. He made the most impressive catch of the day in traffic around double coverage. It was a pretty throw by Graham Harrell and a prettier catch by Williams.

Defensive player of the day: D.J. Smith continues to impress. Smith had good coverage in practice today, sticking close to the man he was assigned to. Best play to highlight this would be a close catch for Finley. Finley nearly had the catch of the day bringing in a finger tips grab around three guys, but Smith knocked it away at the last second. If he can continue to make plays like this then the defense should be improved.

PA’s controversial call: James Jones is better than you think. Jones is one of those players in camp who will make a few plays, and key plays, but not flashy plays. Today he had two good grabs to keep the offense moving in their drills. This is similar to his play on Thursday night where he had some good grabs and runs after the catch to keep drives alive. Unfortunately people only remember his drops (like the one against SD) and then demand for him to be traded, but he is a pretty good WR.

Not a member of Acme Packing Company? Sign up below and start commenting. Everyone here is super fun. Check us out on social media for updates when we update as well.

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As you probably heard by now, Greg Jennings and Jermichael Finley made their returns to practice on Sunday. However, they weren’t the only injured Packers to return to full speed over the weekend.

Sam Shields was back in pads as well, after being out for over a week with his elbow injury (WH). John Kuhn also returned from his ankle injury (WH).
With James Starks, Brandon Saine, and Du’ane Bennett still out, Cedric Benson suited up in pads (TD) and got a number of snaps with the first team offense. Alex Green got the first reps though (RD).
Jarrett Bush got the first round of snaps with the starters at right cornerback, ahead of Casey Hayward and Shields. This was the case in both the base (TS) and nickel packages (RD). However, Shields got reps ahead of Hayward in the dime package (TD). Bush did have a nice stretch late in practice, breaking up two passes thrown by Harrell just a few plays apart (WH).
Both Green and Benson made receptions in team drills. Benson caught a screen pass that went for solid yardage (TS), while Green scored a touchdown on one of his receptions (TD).
Graham Harrell still shows flashes of his potential and ability. He delivered a strike to D.J. Williams against the number one defense, with D.J. Smith and Morgan Burnett in coverage (TS, TD). He also had a very good deep ball to Tori Gurley off play-action (TD). Now he just needs to translate that onto the field in game action.
Lightning sent the Packers inside about halfway through practice. The team was outside through some heavy rains, but didn’t choose to head inside until the thunder and lightning started.
D.J. Smith made multiple good plays in coverage, first breaking up a pass intended for the much taller Finley (JW), then tipping another pass that was intercepted by Hayward (WH).

Ball security remains an issue. Green had two early fumbles in ball security drills (TD), while Marc Tyler recovered his own fumble in team drills (MV). Then Tom Crabtree dropped a low but catchable pass from Aaron Rodgers (TD).

The other tight ends are looking sharp, however. Multiple reporters commented on how D.J. Williams is catching everything near him, and Finley had a great catch and run for over 50 yards (MV).
There was one big fight among the linemen on Sunday, with Josh Sitton, T.J. Lang, and Lawrence Guy as the main culprits (TS, MV).

It’s highly encouraging that the injured Packers starters are returning to the field, especially when so many come back at once. Now the offense just needs to work on their timing, while Shields needs to put together a solid two weeks of practice to re-establish himself and his role on the defense. PA will have more on Sunday’s practice later this morning.

As always, my thanks to the Twitterati reporting from camp:

RD: Rob Demovsky
MV: Mike Vandermause
JW: Jason Wilde
TS: Tom Silverstein
WH: Wes Hodkiewicz
TD: Tyler Dunne
PD: Pete Dougherty
BC: Brian Carriveau
Pack: Packers.com

Not a member of Acme Packing Company? Sign up below and start commenting. Everyone here is awesome. Check us out on social media for updates as well.

Follow @AcmePackingCo

Happy Monday, ladies and gentlemen. After a bad preseason game and a few days of negative news, everyone’s full of positive vibes after Sunday’s practice. Supposedly things went well and some important players returned from injury. Here’s your daily dose of Green Bay Packers news and links.

Like Jennings, Finley returns, ready to play Thursday | ESPN Wisconsin

Very good news.

Packers find their edge in Sunday practice | Packers.com

That probably has a lot to do with injuries clearing up.

The Question We Don’t Want To Ask | Cheesehead TV

I agree with the commenter who said he doesn’t care as long as we get to the playoffs.

Rodgers takes the reins as no-huddle expands | Green Bay Press-Gazette

Hopefully we see a lot of Rodgers running no-huddle touchdown drives on Thursday.

Worthy Still Thinking | Packerpedia

Well that’s good, I was worried he lost the capacity.

Packers rookie McMillian embraces hard-work life | Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

You’ll be stunned to learn that there are no money handshakes at Maine.

More from around SB Nation after the jump.

Colts Vs. Steelers: Andrew Luck Throws 2 Picks In Second Start | SBNation.com

I was going to make a Luck pun before I decided I’m already tired of them.

Giants Cold Tub Video: Tom Coughlin’s Angry, Prince Amukamara’s Confused | SBNation.com

This story is so dumb, it is really dumb, for real

Danny Amendola’s Touchdown Catch Was Awesome | Arrowhead Pride

The shot-by-shot of this is great.

Steelers WR David Gilreath Impresses in Steelers 26-24 Win over Indianapolis Colts | Behind The Steel Curtain

Good, David Gilreath is awesome.

Lions Roster Review: Winners & Losers From Preseason Game No. 2 | Pride Of Detroit

Keeping up on our rivals.

The Green Bay Packers used the 2012 NFL Draft to bolster their defense, and they're counting on second-round pick Jerel Worthy to provide an inside rush. He's off to a slow start this summer.

The Green Bay Packers used the 2012 NFL Draft to bolster their defense, and they're counting on second-round pick Jerel Worthy to provide an inside rush. He's off to a slow start this summer.