![\"Packers](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755375793_872_960x0.jpg\")
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis (2) throws while being pressured by Indianapolis Colts defensive end Laiatu Latu (97) during the first half of an NFL preseason game Saturday.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved<\/p>\n
Improvement. Corrections. And intensity.<\/p>\n
Those are the areas Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur emphasized after his Packers were whipped, 30-10, by the New York Jets in their preseason opener.<\/p>\n
LaFleur had to be happy after Green Bay checked all of those boxes during a 23-19 win over host Indianapolis Saturday. The Packers rallied from a 13-0 hole and got the game-winner when reserve quarterback Sean Clifford had an 11-yard touchdown run with 1:31 left.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the good, bad and ugly from the Packers\u2019 win.<\/p>\n
THE GOOD<\/p>\n
TAYLOR ELGERSMA: The Packers will almost certainly keep just two quarterbacks \u2014 Jordan Love and Malik Willis. They also traditionally keep one quarterback on the practice squad.<\/p>\n
That player could be Elgersma.<\/p>\n
Elgersma, a Canadian quarterback from the University of Wilfrid Laurier, came to Green Bay\u2019s rookie mini-camp in May as a tryout player and impressed. Elgersma, who played 12-man football in Canada, certainly faced long odds to stick around then \u2014 and now.<\/p>\n
But Elgersma had a solid day against the Colts, completing 7-of-11 passes for 109 yards, posting a 96.4 passer rating and leading all three of Green Bay\u2019s scoring drives. Now, Elgersma could be a better option for the practice squad than holdover Sean Clifford.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s another guy who\u2019s flashed,\u201d Packers coach Matt LaFleur said last week of Elgersma. \u201cHe\u2019s got the arm talent. It\u2019s just the consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n
SEAN CLIFFORD: Clifford was Green Bay\u2019s No. 2 quarterback in 2023 and was on the practice squad last year.<\/p>\n
Clifford was in for just one series Saturday, but made it count.<\/p>\n
Clifford led a 13-play, 68-yard drive and capped it with an 11-yard touchdown run that gave the Packers their first lead of the game at 23-19.<\/p>\n
Clifford and Elgersma will likely be battling for a spot on the practice squad when Green Bay hosts Seattle in its final preseason game on Aug. 23.<\/p>\n
FOURTH DOWN FUN: The Packers picked up a pair of fourth downs on their first series, which ended with rookie Mark McNamee missing a 39-yard field goal.<\/p>\n
On a fourth-and-1, running back Chris Brooks gained four yards on a run up the middle. Then on a fourth-and-5, Willis avoided the rush and found tight end John FitzPatrick for nine yards to keep the drive alive.<\/p>\n
Although the Packers came away with nothing after McNamee\u2019s miss, their fourth down execution was impressive.<\/p>\n
GETTING DEFENSIVE: The Packers\u2019 No. 2 defense went head to head with the Colts\u2019 No. 1 offense and allowed just three points in two series.<\/p>\n
Indianapolis had 116 total yards in those series, highlighted by 101 passing yards from quarterback Daniel Jones. But Green Bay\u2019s defense never broke, forcing a punt and then holding the Colts to a field goal.<\/p>\n
THIS AND THAT: Undrafted rookie running back Amar Johnson had his second touchdown run in as many weeks. Johnson had a nine-yard TD run, one week after ripping off a 39-yard scoring run against the Jets. \u2026 Second year running back MarShawn Lloyd, who played in just one game last year due to injury, had a 33-yard reception. \u2026 Defensive lineman Deslin Alexandre ran a stunt up the middle and sacked quarterback Anthony Richardson. \u2026 Linebacker Kristian Welch stuffed running back Ulysses Bentley for no gain on a third-and-2 to kill the Colts\u2019 first drive of the third quarter. Welch later broke up a pass and showed that he\u2019ll be a hard player to release in 10 days. \u2026 The Packers\u2019 No. 1 offensive line (from left) was Jordan Morgan, Donovan Jennings, Sean Rhyan, Jacob Monk, Anthony Belton. \u2026 Mecole Hardman had a 21-yard reception from Willis on a third-and-6. \u2026 Defensive end Arron Mosby drew a holding penalty that helped kill an Indianapolis drive and force the Colts to settle for a field goal. \u2026 Bo Melton broke up slant route for wideout Ashton Dulin.<\/p>\n
THE BAD<\/p>\n
COSTLY FUMBLE: Packers backup running back Emanuel Wilson, fighting for a roster spot, had a critical fumble that led to an Indianapolis field goal.<\/p>\n
Wilson ran for 502 yards last season, averaged 4.9 yards per carry and had five total touchdowns. But with Josh Jacobs and MarShawn Lloyd locks to stick around, Wilson and Chris Brooks are fighting for what\u2019s likely the third and final running back job.<\/p>\n
Wilson did rush for 33 yards on six carries (5.5), but his fumble is the last thing he wanted to put on film.<\/p>\n
BAD MEMORIES: Rookie kicker Mark McNamee reminded everyone in Packer Nation how fortunate they are to have Brandon McManus as their kicker.<\/p>\n
McNamee, a rookie kicker from Ireland, missed a 39-yard field goal on Green Bay\u2019s opening drive. He later missed an extra point with the game tied, 16-16.<\/p>\n
The misses brought back bad memories of Anders Carlson and Brayden Narveson, who both flopped in the last two seasons.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for the Packers, McManus \u2014 who made 50-of-51 kicks (98.0%) in the regular season last year \u2014 isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n
ROOKIE WOES: Packers rookie second round draft pick Anthony Belton had a solid debut last week. Things didn’t go as well this week, as Belton was tagged with three penalties.<\/p>\n
Belton was called for a holding penalty early in the second quarter. On that same drive, Belton was hit with a 15-yard, unnecessary roughness penalty that killed that drive.<\/p>\n
Later, Belton was hit with another 15-yard penalty for a facemask.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mindset is just find a way to get better every day,\u201d Belton said last week. \u201cI just want to find ways to get better. That\u2019s the starting ground, establish myself and know I can be trusted with the playbook.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what comes first in my mind, get everything down pat to where I\u2019m not out there making mistakes. I\u2019m not going out there thinking about starting or anything like that. It\u2019s just about consistency and stacking days.\u201d<\/p>\n
That didn’t happen for Belton Saturday.<\/p>\n
THIS AND THAT: Rookie defensive end Barryn Sorrell left the game with a left knee injury. \u2026 Safety Omar Brown left on a cart with a chest injury. \u2026 Colts rookie tight end Tyler Warren was five yards behind Green Bay\u2019s defense on their first series, but quarterback Daniel Jones overthrew him. \u2026 Guard Donovan Jennings was called for a holding penalty that wiped out an eye-popping, one-handed 31-yard reception by wideout Julian Hicks. \u2026 Kamal Hadden had a holding penalty on a kickoff. \u2026 Johnathan Baldwin was called for a holding penalty on a third-and-9 that gave the Colts a first down.<\/p>\n
THE UGLY<\/p>\n
FOLLOW THE COLLEGE BLUEPRINT: Year after year, fewer and fewer teams play their starters many meaningful snaps. Aside from a few players, Green Bay\u2019s first teamers didn’t play at all Saturday.<\/p>\n
The paying customers have lost all interest, as well.<\/p>\n
Indianapolis\u2019 Lucas Oil Stadium, which holds 70,000, was about half filled Saturday. In the Packers\u2019 first preseason game, the crowd was announced at 71,000, even though historic Lambeau Field was no more than half full.<\/p>\n
In college football, there are no preseason games. Teams go right from training camp to the regular season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time the NFL adopts a similar model.<\/p>\n
NFL teams know how 80-90% of their 53-man roster will look when they finish mini-camps in June. It\u2019s rare when more than a player or two comes out of nowhere in training camp.<\/p>\n
The best solution is for the NFL to add an 18th regular season game, eliminate the preseason contests, and put an end to these exhibition contests once and for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis (2) throws while being pressured by Indianapolis Colts defensive end Laiatu Latu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[2005,7,345,2004,392,2381,1724,4097,3031,6,11051,7167],"class_list":{"0":"post-293593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-colts","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-green-bay-packers","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-jordan-love","15":"tag-malik-willis","16":"tag-matt-lafleur","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-sean-clifford","19":"tag-taylor-elgersma"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115040315332491453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}