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On Sunday, the Packers held their first practice after their third preseason game and their penultimate practice before the roster cut-down deadline to 75 players hits at 4 PM on Monday. Here are the big stories from practice.
- With Tom Crabtree suffering a shoulder injury on the hit by Taylor Mays on Thursday, he sat out practice. Ryan Taylor missed practice as well, meaning that Jermichael Finley and Brandon Bostick were the only tight ends who practiced (WH).
- Also sitting out were Ryan Pickett (calf) and Robert Francois (hamstring), in addition to the usual suspects (WH). Jerel Worthy took Pickett's spot as the starting right defensive end in the base defense (WH, PD), while Terrell Manning got the second-team snaps at ILB (RD).
- Brandon Saine returned to practice (finally) (WH), meaning that he has two practices to avoid my prediction of being cut this afternoon. He screwed up a handoff with Graham Harrell early on, though, showing signs of rust (WH).
- Jarrett Bush was the starter at cornerback in the base defense again (MV).
- The Ginger Wolverine continues to impress. Tim Masthay pinned multiple punts deep, including one inside the 5 (MV). Vandermause also joked that he dented the ceiling of the Hutson Center with one of his kicks.
- Sam Shields and Jerron McMillian got the first dime snaps as the extra corner and safety respectively (TS).
- The play of the day went to Greg Jennings, as he made a great catch from Aaron Rodgers while spinning around down the sideline with Sam Shields covering (WH, TS).
- Marshall Newhouse got overpowered by Phillip Merling at one point, who bull-rushed Newhouse directly into Rodgers, knocking him to the turf (RD). That is unacceptable.
- The second-team offensive line consisted of Shea Allard at LT, Reggie Wells at RG, and Don Barclay at RT (TS, WH). Allard was a little banged up in practice, and at one point had to come off the field after an apparent hamstring injury (RD).
- The team was so desperate for bodies at the tight end spot that Vic So'oto, Sean Richardson, Manning, and Jamari Lattimore all took reps at the position with the scout team. So'oto even made a catch over the middle (HALL OF FAMER) (RD, TS, TD).
- Both Anthony Levine and Richardson made nice plays in coverage late in practice to prevent big catches by much bigger receivers (MV, WH).
Here's the tweet of the day from practice:
Mike Vandermause @MikeVandermause
Rodgers fakes a pass to Ted Thompson, who is standing beyond end zone and raises arms as if to say: Throw it. I'm open.
And that's all she wrote for the 2 hour, 16 minute practice. The Packers take the field again today at 11:15 central time for the last practice before cut-down time. I'll try to get practice notes up before 4 PM today, and we'll be all over the cuts when they are announced.