It’s been 29 weeks — 203 days — since the Green Bay Packers last faced another NFL team.
On that night back in mid-January, Green Bay suffered a devastating 24-21 loss to San Francisco in the NFC divisional playoffs. And the Packers have been salivating for the 2024 season to arrive ever since.
That day finally arrived Saturday, when Green Bay dominated host Cleveland from start to finish on its way to a 23-10 win.
The Packers outgained the Browns, 375-244, didn’t turn the ball over and averaged an impressive 6.0 yards per play.
“I loved how our guys competed in all three phases,” Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said afterwards. “I thought they put a lot of good tape out there. I thought the things that we were looking for in terms of the effort and running to the football and finishing, I thought it was on point.
“I’m sure there were some things we can work on and get better at but, all in all, it was great to see. We got everybody in the game and I thought everybody made contributions.”
Here’s the good, bad and ugly from Green Bay’s impressive win.
THE GOOD
EARLY FIREWORKS: Packers quarterback Jordan Love was asked on Tuesday what would constitute a successful first preseason game.
“Going down and scoring quickly,” Love said. “I think that would be nice. Being able to put a drive together, not going three and out, just having a successful drive and scoring a touchdown would be nice.”
Mission accomplished.
On just the third play of the game, Love hit wideout Dontayvion Wicks for a 65-yard touchdown.
The Packers lined up with three wideouts on the right on third-and-5. Wicks was the middle receiver and got matched with safety Ronnie Hickman.
Wicks blew past Hillman and Love delivered a strike that the second-year wideout hauled in at Cleveland’s 35. Wicks waltzed in from there, giving Green Bay a 7-0 lead just 82 seconds into the game.
“It feels good, man,” Wicks said. “That’s what we wanted to do. That’s what we talked about all week – starting fast. That’s what we came out and did. Coaches called the play, trusted us and we got it done.”
That was it for Love’s day, as he finished 2-of-2 for 63 yards, a touchdown and a perfect passer rating of 158.3. But it was one heck of a debut drive.
“We had a great play dialed up for that situation, 1-on-1 with Wicks in the slot, faking the handoff and he ran a great route, kind of lulled him to sleep at the top and then was able to go past him and (I) just put the ball out there for him and he made the rest happen,” Love said. “Great play by him.”
YEAR 2 LEAP: Defensive end Lukas Van Ness, the Packers’ first round draft pick in 2023, has gotten off to an impressive start this summer. Van Ness continued that Saturday with a sack and three tackles for loss.
Van Ness notched his sack when Devonte Wyatt pressured quarterback Jameis Winston and the second-year defensive end cleaned up.
Last season, Van Ness played in all 17 games, had four sacks, 10 quarterback hits (fifth the team), 32 tackles (24 solo), eight tackles for loss (tied for No. 2 on the team) and one pass defensed.
Year 2 jump, as everybody knows, that’s a big year for me and I’m excited,” Van Ness said. “I know the goals that I have set for myself and I’m excited to go out there and prove it.
“But just having a little bit more confidence in myself, even coming into the building. Knowing the coaches. Knowing the players. Just being in this building is, again, comfortable is probably not the best word to use but just the comfortableness of being in the building, and yeah, I’m excited.”
THAT’S MORE LIKE IT: Green Bay No. 2 quarterback Sean Clifford had a rough start to camp, operating with the No. 1 offense as Love finalized his contract extension.
Clifford led the Packers to three scoring drives — one touchdown and two field goals — during his five series. He finished 10-of-19 for 111 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.
“Everybody in this room understands if you’re out there, you’re being evaluated every single day,” Clifford said. “Being able to do that, especially in a preseason game where everything’s weighed a little bit more, I thought it was great. I thought we did some great things, messed up as well but we’ll continue to learn and grow from it.”
LaFleur was extremely pleased how his backup quarterback performed.
“I thought there was a lot of good things,” LaFleur said of Clifford. “I’m not quite sure how many drives we got points on when he was out there, but you’d like to see us finish a little bit better in the red zone and not kick so many field goals.
I thought the 2-minute operation was big time. All in all, just his command, his presence, the communication, the urgency in and out of the huddle I thought was pretty clean.”
GRANT DUBOSE: DuBose, a seventh round draft choice in 2023, spent all of last season on Green Bay’s practice squad, but has made a big jump this summer.
He continued his upward trend Saturday with team-highs in receptions (five) and yards (66) on six targets.
“Since we started camp, Grant’s been making plays every day,” Love said of DuBose. “He’s been controlling what he can control when the ball comes to him. He’s making big-time plays.
He’s knowing what he needs to do with his assignments in the blocking game and he’s just been a great player so far, so not a surprise what he did tonight. He’s been doing it all camp, so definitely looking forward to seeing more from him, but no, definitely was not surprised by it.”
Afterwards, DuBose was thrilled with his night.
“It feels good,” DuBose said. “I sat the whole last year. This offseason was pretty good for me. I just wanted to take advantage of it. It’s not anything fairly new to me.
I always had to sit and wait for my number to be called. I think that it’s made me and built me for these type of moments. Like I said, I just wanted to take advantage of it and I feel like I did some good things today.”
EMANUEL WILSON: The Packers will almost certainly keep just three running backs, and Josh Jacobs and rookie third round pick Marshawn Lloyd are locks to stick if they’re healthy.
A.J. Dillon, Green Bay’s leading rusher last year, is also a good bet, but second-year man Emanuel Wilson will be a tough player to move on from.
Wilson had a solid day, with 13 carries for 67 yards and a 5-yard touchdown run that gave the Packers a 14-3 lead late in the second quarter.
Wilson averaged 6.1 yards per rushing attempt last year, then had 12 carries in the postseason.
“I’m just being me,” Wilson said. “That’s all it is. They let me play free. Just playing ball.
Not letting my highs get too high, my lows get too low. Just go out next week and do the same thing.”
EARLY DOMINANCE: The Packers had 209 first half yards to just 86 for Cleveland. Green Bay also had a 10-5 edge in first downs, averaged 6.0 yards per play to just 3.3 for the Browns, and had a 157-54 advantage on passing yards.
Cleveland had 26 players sit out including quarterback Deshaun Watson, wideout Amari Cooper, defensive end Myles Garrett, cornerback, Denzel Ward and guard Joel Bitonio. That quintet has been to 22 Pro Bowls between them.
With those players — and several others — sitting out, the Packers dominated the first half.
OPPORTUNISTIC EVAN: Rookie safety Evan Williams has made play after play throughout training camp practices, highlighted by four interceptions.
And Williams kept it going Saturday.
On the first play of the second half, Williams forced a fumble of John Kelly Jr. after an 11-yard reception. Linebacker Kristian Welch recovered.
We just talked about the importance of getting the ball back in the locker room,” Williams said. “Anytime you can be plus in the turnover battle. You know that you have a plus-whatever, 30% higher chance of winning the game.
“It was a little screen pass, dump down. Just saw a clear path and thought, OK I’ll probably be the one making this play. I put my shoulder in a good spot. I think my arm and shoulder kinda combo was able to knock it out. I saw the ball come out. I tried to leap on it but saw another green jersey on it and celebrated with the guys.”
KICKING BATTLE RAGES ON: Anders Carlson, Green Bay’s kicker last season, made all three of his kicks — field goals from 46 and 33 yards, as well as an extra point. Greg Joseph, who’s trying to unseat Carlson, made his only kick, a 35-yard field goal.
Through 13 practices, Joseph was 46-of-53 (86.8%), while Carlson was 43-of-53 (81.1%).
The battle will continue when Green Bay is back at practice Tuesday.
THIS AND THAT: The Packers’ No. 1 offensive line was Rasheed Walker, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Sean Rhyan and Andre Dillard. The No. 2 line was Dillard, Royce Newman, Rhyan, Jacob Monk and Kadeem Telfort. … Javon Bullard started at safety next to Xavier McKinney. Corey Ballentine started at cornerback opposite Eric Stokes. … Sean Clifford hit Grant DuBose for 13 yards on a fourth-and-3 on Green Bay’s second touchdown drive. … Rookie free agent Julian Hicks made a gorgeous 23-yard reception on a fade from No. 3 quarterback Michael Pratt. … Jarveon Howard, an undrafted rookie free agent, ran with power and finished with 44 yards on eight carries (5.5). … No. 3 quarterback Michael Pratt was solid, completing 5-of-7 for 46 yards and finishing with a passer rating of 89.0.
THE BAD
NO MOVEMENT: Green Bay had a fourth-and-1 from its own 46 on its second drive of the game.
The Packers ran A.J. Dillon behind center Sean Rhyan and right guard Jacob Monk, but that duo couldn’t clear any space and Dillon was stuffed for no gain.
“(When) we don’t convert and get stuffed on fourth down, there’s definitely some room for improvement there,” LaFleur said. “But credit to them. They did a nice job. They had everybody up there on that fourth down; it was going to be quite the challenge.
DROPPING OUT: Rookie running back MarShawn Lloyd, who missed the first week of training camp with a hip injury, left the game with a hamstring injury.
The 5-foot-9, 220-pound Lloyd had one carry for eight yards and one reception for a yard.
“That is disappointing, but he’s gonna have to get healthy because we’ve seen what he’s capable of doing in practice,” LaFleur said of Lloyd. “You’d just like to see it in a real game.”
FROM THE INFIRMARY: The following Packers didn’t play due to injury — offensive linemen Zach Tom (pectoral), Jordan Morgan (shoulder) and Donovan Jennings (knee), tight ends Tyler Davis (knee) and Tucker Kraft (pectoral), linebackers Edgerrin Cooper (hip) and Ty’Ron Hopper (ankle), defensive linemen Deslin Alexandre (leg) and Keshawn Banks (groin), wideout Dimitri Stanley (hamstring) and cornerback Carrington Valentine (hamstring).
Cornerback Jaire Alexander didn’t play due to a personal matter.
THIS AND THAT: Sean Clifford was credited with a fumble on a jet sweep to Bo Melton in the first quarter. … Keisean Nixon gave up an 18-yard reception to wideout Michael Woods on the Browns’ opening possession, which helped lead to a field goal. … Guard Royce Newman, fighting for a roster spot, had a false start penalty. … Cornerback L.J. Davis was hit with personal foul penalty late in the fourth quarter, and one play later Aidan Robbins had a 1-yard touchdown run.
THE UGLY
NOTHING: This might be a first for the ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’ column. And the Packers’ coaches will undoubtedly find plenty of flaws after reviewing the tape.
But Green Bay’s front-liners to the backups were solid in every phase. And overall, the coaching staff won’t have much to complain about.
