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Packers running back Alex Green vs. Browns

Green Bay Packers vs. Cleveland Browns:

My unfitered game day blog post of comments, observations and first impressions.

Inactive for Packers today:

It’s a long list:

WR Greg Jennings, WR Diondre Borel and TE Jermichael Finley, LB Desmond Bishop, WR Shaky Smithson, RB Du’ane Bennett, RB Brandon Saine, FB John Kuhn, FB Jon Hoese, CB Sam Shields,  CB Davon House, OLB Frank Zombo, G Ray Dominguez,  DT Johnny Jones, T Marshall Newhouse, T Derek Sherrod, TE Andrew Quarless,

Notes: Tonight is the 63 installment of the Midwest Shrine game. Big night for Alex Green, Casey Hayward and DJ Smith.

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Mike McCarthy Pregame Show on 620 WTMJ:

Lambeau Field: Great to be home – no place like Lambeau Field. Big night for some of our younger players – they’re excited about playing here tonight.

 New Stadium Additions: Anxious to scope out the conditions. Great work for us; 15-20mph winds expected. I’m very interested to see what info our coaches gather.

Cedric Benson:  I look for Cedric to come in and compete for a starting position. He looks to be in great shape. He’s an excellent inside runner, he’s a 220 lb running back .  He defintitely falls forward.

Reggie Wells: Reggie gives u flexibility, has played all 5 positions. He’s older obviously, so brings a lot of valuable experience to a young offensive line group  Read more... (977 words + 3 images, estimated 3:54 mins reading time)

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Is it possible for a preseason game to suck?

If it is, then the Green Bay Packers experienced it last Thursday in their 21-13 loss to the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium in their preseason opener.  Not only did the Packers lose, the starting offense came out flat with reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers posting a quarterback rating of 0.0 (yes, it’s a meaningless stat, but the offense looked putrid regardless).

Throw in a possible season ending hamstring injury to starting linebacker Desmond Bishop and the 2012 season opened with a rather loud thud for Packer Nation.

That said, it’s a new week and football returns to Lambeau Field tonight when the Green Bay Packers take on the Cleveland Browns.

The Packers enter the game a little healthier than in the game against the Chargers, they still have a ways to go before they can be declared ready to go before the regular season starts.  Greg Jennings is still out with a concussion and the Packers must be more worried about his health than they are letting on.  Marshall Newhouse finally returned to practice and should see his first game action of the season.

With the starters likely seeing very limited action once again, here are some things to look forward to as the Packers’ preseason schedule hits the halfway point:

James Starks has been put on notice  Read more... (851 words + 1 image, estimated 3:24 mins reading time)

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Last preseason @ Indianapolis

The Packers preseason opponents were announced by the team yesterday afternoon. The schedule for the 2012 preseason is as follows:

Aug. 9 @ San Diego Chargers (ESPN)

Aug. 16-19 Cleveland Browns

Aug. 23-26 @ Cincinnati Bengals

Aug. 30-31 Kansas City Chiefs

After being snubbed by the NFL and missing out on the season opener against the New York Giants, the Packers get the first primetime, national televised preseason game outside of the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 5.

Due to it being a national televised game, the Chargers game is the only game that has a specific date and time. The dates and times for the other games will be revealed in the coming weeks.

When the team released the information, some players took to twitter to express their frustration with having to play a West Coast preseason game. Josh Sitton tweeted, “that’s terrible. West coast preseason games suck. Especially early [in] pre season!” When asked why, Sitton claimed the long flight and time change.

While the players may not be happy, it presents the Packers a chance to open their training camp before most other teams. According to NFL rules, teams can begin their camps 15 days prior to their first preseason game. The Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints will be the first to open because their Aug. 5 meeting.  Read more... (390 words + 1 image, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

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The Packers decided against franchise-tagging Matt Flynn Monday.

Packers quarterback Matt Flynn will be free to sign with whichever team he so chooses this spring after the NFL’s franchise tag deadline passed Monday without GM Ted Thompson slapping the $14.4 million tender on the 27-year-old backup.

Instead of taking the risk of tagging Flynn and then trading him to a quarterback-needy team, the Packers have decided to play it safe and let Flynn become an unrestricted free agent on March 13. Depending on how a number of factors play out, the Packers could receive a third-round compensatory pick in next year’s draft for letting Flynn walk.

Early opinions following the re-signing of tight end Jermichael Finley to kickoff the NFL Combine were that the Packers would tag Flynn and find a trade partner, which potentially could have landed a first- or second-round pick in exchange. As the process wore on, however, it appeared less and less likely that the Packers would go down that route.

The Packers certainly did their due diligence to investigate whether the tag-and-trade route would benefit the franchise, but the risk of getting stuck with a $14.4 million backup outweighed the potential of acquiring a top pick in the 2012 NFL draft. Starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers makes more than $6 million less than the quarterback franchise tender.  Read more... (483 words + 1 image, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

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