Friday, August 02, 2013

Thursday Practice

There couldn’t have been a more perfect day to watch a Packers’ Training Camp practice than Thursday morning. By the time it was over, the temperature had settled at 70 degrees with a light wind. The players who have ended up in Green Bay have certainly hit the jackpot as far as weather goes so far. 

Some of the punt return candidates this year. Rookie RB Johnathan Franklin (#23) makes a catch here. He dropped more than a few in the practices we saw. 

K Giorgio Tavecchio works with a staff member on running the “jugs” machine, which simulates punts without overly stressing the leg of P Tim Masthay.  

QB’s Aaron Rodgers (#12) and Graham Harrell (#6) about ready to get their practice started. 

Rodgers pitches one out to an unidentified RB. 

The TE’s are lined up for some “ball drills,” which stress keeping control of the football. 

G T.J. Lang is in his fifth season in the NFL, but even veterans can still receive some pointers about their stance, as he finds out here with offensive line coach James Campen. 

Offensive linemen working amongst themselves. 

Above and below, more tackling drills involving the offensive and defensive linemen. 


Rodgers works with his offense in some scrimmaging action. 

Rodgers takes the snap, and with some protection provided by FB John Kuhn (#30) and others,... 

... he is able to set and fire the ball off for a completion. 

Rodgers clowns around on the sideline with Harrell (right), and B.J. Coleman and QB’s coach Ben McAdoo.

Head Coach Mike McCarthy (all in green with white hat) and GM Ted Thompson (foreground) watch their team. 

Starting WR’s Jordy Nelson (#87) and James Jones (#89) enjoy a light moment, looking towards the crowd. 

LB’s coach Kevin Greene talks with Nick Perry (#53), Clay Matthews (#52), and Andy Mulumba (#46). 

Offensive linemen — T Kevin Hughes (#68), seen here — working against the LB’s, one-on-one. 

More scrimmaging action. 

The trenches.

You know we love these kinds of shots. 

Rodgers looks for an open receiver. 

RB Johnathan Franklin gains some yards. 

Rodgers getting ready to let a long one fly. 

One-on-one drills pitting a defensive lineman against one offensive lineman, who is protecting an imaginary QB.  

Super Gatorade® cart. 

The first field goal kicking drill that we’d seen all week took place later in practice. 

Some of the RB’s take a break while the kickers were showing their wares. 

The Green Bay Press-Gazette said that K Mason Crosby (#2) made all of his attempts. From our angle, we could not tell this at the time.

His rival, K Giorgio Tavecchio (#7) has also had a good camp as far as field goals go, but has not matched Crosby in the kickoffs department. 

Another “TV Timeout” break towards the end of practice. Wet towels on the head seem to be popular this year, even though the temps have been unseasonably mild so far.

Practice is over and McCarthy gathers his troops for some last words. 

Because of some drops and fumbled snaps during practice, McCarthy mandated that there be extra ball-handling work done afterwards. Here, the QB’s work with their coach. 

That’s it for our practice reports from the 2013 Green Bay Packers Training Camp. We had planned to be in town through Saturday morning, but a situation came up that ended our visit two days early. We do have more to share from our stay there, however, so stay tuned. Thanks for checking out our photos from this year’s camp!