Coming off a dominant display against the New Orleans Saints, the Green Bay Packers (1-1) head to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs (1-1) in their preseason finale. The Packers entered this game looking to find out who will clinch the final roster spots available and looking to replicate a strong performance on all fronts last week.
The Chiefs opened on offense by honoring the great Len Dawson’s legacy and coming out in the choir huddle with the starting offense and taking a delay of game penalty. Rest in peace to a legendary NFL Player, and my condolences go out to his family.
The offense struggled to open the half, with a pair of punts on their first two drives but quickly turned things around at the end of the first quarter with a great drive by Love and a 24 yard touchdown run by Goodson to open the second quarter. This success continued into the rest of the second quarter but a would-be touchdown drive was stalled by a couple of bad penalties on the offensive-line that resulted in the Packers settling for 3. On the offense’s final drive, Jordan Love started strong but was unable to lead the offense into field goal range, throwing a deep pass into double coverage that was intercepted, one of few mistakes this game.
The defense also struggled at the start of the half but only gave up 3 points on the first couple drives. The struggles continued as third string Chiefs quarterback Shane Buechele carved up the defense on his first drive, going 4/4 for 76 yards and a touchdown on a deep 54 yard strike. On the final meaningful drive of the half, the defense had a quick 3-and-out featuring a great PBU by Krys Barnes.
Pat O’Donnell has looked stellar for the Packers, with his pair of punts going for an average of 62.5 yards, with a long of 69 yards.
Players of the Half
Tyler Goodson: Once against Goodson makes an appearance on my Players of the Half showcase and is making a case for Player of the Preseason. Though he did struggle the first couple carries, as the rest of the rushing game did, he continued to excel in the passing game, and on his sixth carry took a run 24 yards to the house for his first touchdown of the preseason. Goodson ended the half with 10 touches for 47 yards and a touchdown. Goodson has been a star and, in my eyes, has locked up the RB3 spot, with Kylin Hill going on the PUP.
Amari Rodgers: Having an otherwise quiet preseason outside of a great catch and run for a touchdown earlier, Amari Rodgers has contributed more in this game with the Packers trying to find more ways to give him the ball. Am. Rodgers took a couple jet sweeps for 17 yards and made a great catch in traffic for a 15 yard first down. His returns have looked better too, breaking a tackle on the opening kickoff to salvage an otherwise busted return coverage for the Packers special teams unit. Amari Rodgers finished the half with three carries for 17 yards and two catches for 20 yards.
Player to Watch in the Second Half
Samori Toure: Trying to solidify a spot on the roster, Toure had a couple big catches in the first half, one for 23 yards and the other for 19. In training camp Toure has looked stellar but in the preseason has been almost non-existent, only having 3 other catches for another 43 yards. With limited WR slots available for the Packers to fill, Toure will have to put up better numbers in the second half to clinch a spot on the roster and not be relegated to the practice squad.
Injury Report
Innis Gaines suffered an injury early in the second quarter, his return is questionable.
The Packers go into the second half tied at 10, with one more half left in the preseason, who will step up to solidify a slot on the 53-man roster.
