Green Bay Packers Training Camp: Notes, Observations, and Thoughts Practice 5

When I was in college and gave tours to my out of town friends one of the things I would love to show would be some of the street signs in the west Green Bay neighborhoods right by Lambeau Field. These signs would read "No Parking Day of Packer Game." The signs appear most notably along Oneida St. The moral of the story is that the town not only gains identity from the Packers, but a Packer event can have some substantial effects around the area. Today, coming to practice I saw a single player dictate traffic in much the same way the Packers as a whole can along those specially marked streets.

I park in the Lambeau Field lot every day and then cross Oneida to get to the practice field. Since there is more foot traffic than normal and at a irregular pace, police are there to hand direct traffic. I was stopped for the first time today, the police going to let the cars through, but then the officer happened to notice there was one more Packer coming down to cross. It seems Jermichael Finley was riding up behind me on his bike. The officer looked at him, and just said "Sorry MIke, didn't see you there." Waived Finley and the kid carrying his equipment across while the rest of us waited. Only in Green Bay.

After the jump you'll find information on the continuing battle at the CB spot, PA whining about the offense not looking fantastic, Cobb's latest trick play, and other random happenings from today's training camp.

Biggest surprise of the day - Randall Cobb getting an option to throw on a reverse. In my last daily gush about Cobb I mentioned the only thing I haven't seen them try with him so far is a pass. That is now in the past. Today's daily Cobb trick play was an option reverse. It really didn't work. The defense got penetration, the routes didn't develop, and somehow Aaron Rodgers had to block Jerel Worthy. It was nice to see them try it though.

Pleasant surprise of the day - TIE Davon House getting most of the reps at #2 CB AND the return of Jermichael Finley. Tex mentioned this in his morning round up, and you probably saw all the tweets as well, but House did spend most (if not all) of the practice at #2 CB. He was pretty good, some good break ups here getting burned by Donald Driver there....all in all not bad. I also want to use this space to highlight Finley's return as well. If it wasn't for some great plays down the stretch from DD, Finley would get my offensive performer of the day. He made some great catches in game situation drills including a quick slant for a TD and couple great catches in traffic for first downs.

Disappointment of the day - Sloppy offense. I don't know whether it was just the defense having a good day or the offense being distracted by the NFL Network cameras, but the offense just seemed off today. Passes were a bit high, balls were dropped, and a few turnovers occurred. This isn't end of the world, season over type stuff....but it was sloppier than earlier practices.

Offensive performance of the day - Quickie's still got it. Great day for DD today. He had a few great TD catches. He was consistently getting open and just showing that he still does have something in the tank. Really for a bit it reminded me of that playoff loss with most of the offense dropping balls and then DD just steps up and makes a few key plays.

Defensive performance of the day - Burnett making the highlight reel. There has been a lot of action at the safety spot this past year. Nick Collins is basically retired, Charlie Peprah was cut, Woodson is on the move, and Jennings is making a name for himself. It's understandable then that Morgan Burnett can get a little forgotten in the mix. He's never been bad at safety, but some freak injuries have limited his effectiveness. Today he showed some of his real promise with an interception of Rodgers, a strip, and some great stops.

Defensive performance of the day (honorable mention) - Jarius Wynn takes it to the house. Burnett was the top performer but I have to give some love to Wynn who got a pick of a screen pass at the end of the muddle huddle session. Wynn had a pretty good run back and probably would of gotten a TD out of it...provided he didn't have to run an obscenely long time with the ball.

PA pay attention! Update on the safeties - I really wanted to watch the one on one pass rushing drills. I arrived in plenty of time to find a good seat, got a spot that I thought would be perfect from where they have run the drills over the last few days....and then they moved them to the other side of the field today. As a result I kept a closer eye on the safety spot and glanced over to the d-line when I could. The safety line up is looking pretty similar to the way it has been through most of camp. In base it's Charles Woodson and Morgan Burnett. In nickel it's M.D. Jennings and Morgan Burnett. The primary back ups are Jerron McMillian and Anthony Levine (who each are having a pretty good camp). Sean Richardson gives a nice flash every so often. Today it was with a pass defense and couple good tackles. As a side note, it's fun to hear people in the stands react to a Richardson play. Often you hear them first think it's Casey Hayward and then go...."Oh, I guess that's this Richardson guy."

Fan interaction of the day - Razing Saturday. Walking away from camp I decided to try and add a little more flavor of camp to the daily notes and give you taste of what people are yelling at players and how they react. Today it was a guy behind me yelling at Jeff Saturday: "Hey Saturday! You move pretty quick for an old man!!" This got a good chuckle from the crowd and Saturday alike who smiled and waived in response.

Only at Packer training camp - The tandem bike. It seems every day there is one experience I have had where I look over and think....there is no where else that you will see something like this. The other day it was walking along and realizing that Jordy Nelson was following me and playing with this kids. Today it was watching the iconic image of the Packers riding the bikes with the kids following behind....and then seeing an offensive lineman riding a tandem bike with a little kid on the back both peddling along. I'm not sure if it was genius for the kid's parents or a pain in the butt for the Packer, but it was funny to watch.

PA controversial call - I am loving the Anthony Hargrove pick up. I don't care that he's suspended for eight games, right now picking up Hargrove has been worth it. Hargrove brings an energy to practice and the defensive line. Today was the first day that I was watching Hargrove and Mike Neal doing reps in the 11 on 11 drills. It was also the first day where I swear the interior pass rush was coming better than ever. He's not going to replace Cullen Jenkins, but he doesn't have to in order for the pick up to be worth it for me. All he has to do is bring some nasty and some attitude to a generally laid back defensive line. So far he's been doing that and that makes me happy.

As always feel free to ask me to watch for anything specific. I'll to watch for it the next time I'm at practice.

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