There was a lot going on around Lambeau Field today.
The Green Bay Packers welcomed the Houston Texans for the first joint practice in Titletown since 2005 when Mike Sherman brought the Buffalo Bills to town.
It was festive before practice, as the Texans, using the visitor’s locker room at the stadium, found a long, long line of kids with their bikes at the ready to let players take part in the Packer camp tradition of riding across the parking lot to the practice fields.
(Houston Rookie Derrick Baity Jr. meets his bike partner)
The teams warmed up on opposite sides of the Don Hutson Center, the Texans on Clarke Hinkle Field, the Packers on Ray Nitschke Field. After about 15 minutes, they got after each other. The competition was spirited through a couple of team periods and a 7 on 7 session with Green Bay’s offense going against the Houston defense on the north end of Nitschke and the Packer defense against the Texans’ offense at the south end.
It went from spirited to testy when midway through practice, a rookie on rookie collision boiled over. Jace Sternberger was crossing the middle when at the moment he snatched a pass, Houston’s second round pick, cornerback Lonnie Johnson Jr. from Kentucky, lit up the former Texas A&M Aggie who held on to the ball but lost his helmet in the process. Sternberger lay motionless on the ground for a moment but long enough for Johnson to stand over him in a defiant taunt.
That’s when veteran guard Lucas Patrick sprinted toward the Texan to protect his fallen teammate. Both sides converged before things got terribly out of hand.
Sternberger was eventually led off the field to get examined but he would return. Johnson was sent to the showers by Houston Head Coach Bill O’Brien.
The rest of the two hour practice went off without incident. When it was over, Head Coach Matt LaFleur met with the media and the near melee was top of mind.
(Audio: Matt LaFleur)
Patrick was the first, but not the only enforcer for the Packers. He said it wasn’t the hit itself, which wasn’t good, but the theatrics afterward that got under his skin.
(Audio: Lucas Patrick)
As for Sternberger, he was no worse for the wear, able to finish out the practice. He had nothing against Johnson, a player he went up against last year in college and joked, “we beat ’em, in overtime.”
The Packers had 10 players sit out practice with Corey Linsley added to the list with a biceps problem. Patrick and Justin McCray rotated in at center with the first team offense. Kevin King was out after getting hurt on Family Night and Tramon Williams took over at his corner spot. Also on the sidelines were Jamal Williams, Aaron Jones, Josh Jackson, Kendall Donnerson, Greg Roberts, Jason Spriggs, Fadal Brown and Curtis Bolton.
Jumping back and forth from the offense to defense, I saw the Packer starters having trouble dealing with tight ends during team and 7 on 7 drills and it took a while for the unit to adjust to an up tempo Texans offense.
As for the Packer offense, big grabs were made by Robert Tonyan over the middle, J’Mon Moore with a leaping sideline catch and Danny Vitale running a deep wheel route.
For the first time this summer, there was a head to head field goal competition between Mason Crosby and Sam Ficken. Each got five kicks against a rush from 33 yards back to 51 yards. Ficken made all five while Crosby, just off the non-football injury list, went four of five, missing a 49 yard try wide right.
Two Houston players were particularly excited about practicing in Green Bay. One played his High School ball in town. Second round pick Max Scharping of Northern Illinois was a standout two way lineman at Green Bay Southwest High School. His parents were guests on the sideline at practice and Max said it was a great welcome home:
(Audio: Max Scharping)
But the most sought after player all day was former Wisconsin Badger star and three time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, J.J. Watt.
(J.J. Watt facing the stadium he dreamed of playing in as a child)
Watt grew up in Wisconsin and fans young and old clamored for a photo or autograph before and after practice and he obliged as many as he could in a fun return to his home state.
(Audio: J.J. Watt)
Watt missed a chance to play at Lambeau a few years back, hurt when the Texans came for a wintry regular season game. He dropped out of practice midway through when his groin tightened up. He might not go Thursday night either but said the thrill of walking onto Lambeau Field will still be there.
Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst held a brief news conference this morning and said he’s pleased with how his players are competing so far in camp and how valuable the joint practices with the Texans will be.
The day began with a rules seminar from veteran NFL Referee Brad Rogers.
(NFL Ref Brad Rogers briefs media on rule emphasis and changes)
His entire crew will be working the practices and Thursday night’s game.
Rogers said the first rule change of note involves back side holding. When a play is run to the left for instance, officials will keep an eye on the right side of the field to make sure offensive players are only impeding progress of defenders without grabbing on.
The biggest conversation point across the league this off-season was the now infamous non-call in the NFC Championship Game. With the New Orleans Saints driving, a blatant pass interference penalty was not called against the Los Angeles Rams and it very well could have denied the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl.
I asked Rogers about the fallout from league discussions:
(Audio: Brad Rogers)
No debate about that.
Yup, there was plenty to cover on the busiest day of camp so far.
