The Packers open their preseason schedule against the Patriots on Thursday. The trials and tribulations should be a fun follow for the next few years.
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NOTES: LB Clay Matthews returned to practice Monday after being out a week because of knee soreness. Matthews has missed five practices, including Saturday’s Family Night, with a sore knee.
“Probably just start easing me back into it”, Matthews said afterward. “But there’s always other factors that go along with that”.
Before his prolonged absence, Matthews had been working at inside linebacker as well as his natural spot on the outside. That was the result of offseason hernia surgery.
Ladies and gentleman, Green Bay Packers football is back on Thursday in a matchup that features what could have been last year’s Super Bow matchup.
This game will be the first time either of the teams’ rookies take the field in a game situation.
Defensive lineman Mike Daniels and Letroy Guion sat out with injuries, as did linebacker Nick Perry.
-Tim Masthay can sleep better now. The Packers have historically been cautious with their key players in preseason. After disclosing Monday that he often awoke in the middle of the night thinking about his then-ongoing run of abysmal performances toward the end of last season, the veteran punter gained some relief.
For the second-team defense, the Packers will perhaps want to give some playing time to first-round rookie Damarious Randall, who has been taking snaps on the outside in training camp and making headlines for intercepting quarterback Aaron Rodgers in drills, according to the Associated Press (h/t FoxSports.com).
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Tom Silverstein is in his 25th year covering the Green Bay Packers and 30th year with the Journal Sentinel. He only played 151 snaps in 2014, per Pro Football Focus, mostly in games in which the Patriots were so far ahead that they pulled Brady. “No matter how the ball is thrown to me, it’s my job as a receiver to adjust and make the catch”. His availability for Thursday’s preseason game at New England is uncertain.
