For the second consecutive year, the Green Bay Packers forgot the preseason is only three games long now and put forth a tepid effort in Week 1.
The Packers simply didn’t look ready for this game, with the offense seeming lost and the defense forgetting to cover the Minnesota Vikings’ best player. Surely the offense and defense will find their bearings against the Chicago Bears in Week 2, and we’ll just forget about Week 1.
You know who DID show up in Week 1? Rich Bisaccia’s special teams unit. While the offense and defense had a poor showing, special teams put up a nondescript one. For a team with Green Bay’s history, a competent, barely noteworthy performance from the special teams is a work of art. After a less-than-inspiring preseason, we’re hopefully seeing the change in action.
Special teams looked like more of the same through the preseason, crescendoing in a particularly horrendous showing in Kansas City. That was disheartening to watch, but apparently, it wasn’t indicative of the final product. Bisaccia and Matt LaFleur needed to try different formations to see what they could do with the roster. Many players who saw ample special teams snaps in August are no longer with the team.
So we saw the first real special teams unit in Minnesota. Of course, most snaps still went to special teams/backup players. Tyler Davis, Isaiah McDuffie, Tipa Galeai, Dallin Leavitt, Krys Barnes, and Juwann Winfree logged the most snaps. But Bisaccia was true to his word; several starters also played a role.
Eric Stokes and Rasul Douglas each saw 12 snaps on special teams. De’Vondre Campbell, Dean Lowry, Jarran Reed, Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, Adrian Amos, and Darnell Savage played at least five. For context, Clark’s six ST snaps against Minnesota were double his total 2021 snaps with the same unit.
One week isn’t a huge sample size, but Bisaccia and LaFleur weren’t kidding about trying a different approach and using starters as needed. This, along with the team upgrading the roster with dedicated special teamers, is crucial in the road to competence.
New arrivals Keisean Nixon, Dallin Leavitt, and Rudy Ford prove why dedicated special teamers are better than just throwing bottom-of-the-roster guys out there and hoping for the best. Nixon and Ford, in particular, made impressions as gunners, and Nixon looks like a leader for this emerging unit. Nixon also made the most of his lone defensive snap before suffering a shoulder injury. Thankfully, Tom Silverstein reported that it isn’t too serious.
Amari Rodgers still hasn’t done enough to play a role on offense, but he managed to move forward and hold on to the ball as a returner. Remember how rare this was last year? Improvement!
Bisaccia’s two new specialists, punter Pat O’Donnell and long snapper Jack Coco, already look to be an upgrade over last year’s players. Both had good preseasons and brought their chemistry to Minnesota.
O’Donnell might not have the same leg strength as Corey Bojorquez, but he’s much more consistent and is a much better holder. His 44.8-yard average ranked towards the bottom of the league for Week 1, but the small sample size isn’t a concern. O’Donnell was consistent, and we know he can punt in the cold.
Coco continues the Packers’ tradition of keeping a UDFA rookie on the initial 53-man roster. He’s still adjusting to life in the NFL and solely playing long snapper, but his hard work continues to pay off.
Mason Crosby completes the specialist trio, and he returned to action after spending the offseason on the PUP list. Crosby didn’t have to do much with the offense struggling and getting stuffed on the goal line twice. But he looked more like the Crosby we’re used to than last year’s version.
Crosby’s lone extra point was right on the money, and both of his kickoffs made it to the end zone. After last year’s performance and with him coming off of injury, it was nice seeing the ball make it past the goal line, even if it was in an indoor stadium.
There were still issues, of course. Tackling could have been better. Some of the starters had a few errors thanks to a lack of ST snaps — Campbell had a false start, for example. A few of O’Donnell’s punts were dangerously close to being blocked.
LaFleur was especially displeased with the punt blocking, describing it as “too leaky,” and added, “You’ve got to trust your technique, trust the way you’ve been trained, and not go rogue. I thought there was too much of that.”
But this unit isn’t a finished project, and as the players work together more under Bisaccia’s guidance, the whole group should look more polished. The Vikings were a good first test for this rebuilding unit, even if Crosby and the kicking operation didn’t get a ton of spotlight. Bisaccia needs to build off this performance and keep growing, but Sunday’s opener was a nice start towards looking like an actual NFL special teams unit.
