| The Seahawks had eight first-half sacks against the Packers on Monday, but coach Mike McCarthy said the issues “are things we can correct.” (US Presswire) |
Even if they were still smarting from Monday night's loss to the Seahawks, the Packers weren’t hurting too badly physically when they returned to practice Wednesday evening.
Only one player, undrafted rookie S Sean Richardson (hamstring), did not participate, and second-year LB Jamari Lattimore (ankle), who’s been out most of the season, returned to the field and was limited. Also encouraging was that RB James Starks, who hasn’t played since suffering turf toe in the preseason opener and only came back to practice last week, was a full participant. And WR Greg Jennings, who missed most of the past two weeks but played Monday night, participated in all the drills during the portion of the session open to media.
In another bit of good news, TE Tom Crabtree, who’s been battling a nagging shoulder injury suffered in preseason, was a full participant at practice. Last week, coach Mike McCarthy said Crabtree’s shoulder was “something he’s going to be dealing with for quite some time because he doesn’t have the time to let it sit and heal.”
Crabtree was inactive for the game at Seattle but said Wednesday he could’ve played. “It was more of a preventative type of thing,” Crabtree said. “It’s something we don’t want to be battling every week, like, ‘Is Tom going to be OK or not?’ That’s how I understood it. He talked to me about it, and we both agreed it was a smart thing to do. Considering how I felt [Wednesday], I think it was probably worth it. I was able to catch, stretch without any problems, hit guys a little bit -- I know we weren’t in pads, but I was able to at least jab guys a little bit.”
New to the injury report was RT Bryan Bulaga (knee), who McCarthy said was limited on Wednesday. Bulaga didn’t appear to be injured during the game Monday night, when he was beaten badly for three sacks, including two embarrassing ones by Seahawks rookie DE Bruce Irvin. On one of those sacks, Irvin bull-rushed Bulaga and knocked him down with one arm, getting to QB Aaron Rodgers in barely more than two seconds. Bulaga has typically been one of the Packers' best offensive linemen.
Interceptor’s insight: The Packers player who was at the center, literally, of the controversy from Monday night’s controversy, second-year S M.D. Jennings, shared his thoughts on the final play.
“That night, Monday night, it felt like a real bad dream," Jennings said Wednesday, adding that he’d received countless phone calls, text messages and interview requests. "I was hoping it’d be better the next morning, but it wasn’t. I still think I caught the ball. I feel that anybody who actually watched the play can see I have the ball.”
Jennings has watched the play plenty -- probably about 50 times, he said -- and “it showed me what I already felt inside, that I caught the ball.” He was “real shocked” the touchdown call wasn’t overturned and, when the ruling was finalized, he “couldn’t believe it.”
When asked why he went for the interception instead of attempting to bat the ball down, Jennings went into lengthy detail.
“The biggest thing is to judge the flight of the ball,” he said. “That helps determine, ‘Can I get it at its highest point or just bat it down?’ You see around the league people bat it down and someone’s there to catch it off the tip. You saw it in the Titans game [against the Lions on Sunday]. ... Either way it goes, people will second-guess it.”
Jennings insisted he’d made the right decision.
“You can second-guess yourself, thinking catch it or bat it down,” Jennings said. “But I just had to go with my instincts, and that was to go up and try to make a play on the ball.
“It’s tough to learn something from that situation. … If I could do it all over again. I'd do the exact same thing."
No shelter: Rodgers was sacked eight times by the Seahawks, tying a career high, and all of them came in the first half. His offensive line looked overmatched, he had almost no time to set himself, the wide receivers couldn’t get open and, on a few plays, he seemed to hold onto the ball too long. It all added up to a first half of offensive futility, when the Packers were shut out and saw their five drives stall and end in punts.
McCarthy said Wednesday the sacks were disruptive to the offense’s rhythm and there were problems with fundamentals, such as offensive linemen not staying square and letting pass rushers get around the edge. But, he said, “the good thing is there are things we can correct.”
McCarthy also addressed whether Rodgers was partly to blame for holding the ball too long and scrambling too much.
“Most of the issues are on the protection unit,” McCarthy said. “The quarterback holding the ball is part of the protection unit.”
Follow Packers reporter James Carlton on Twitter: @CBSPackers and @jimmycarlton88.