Blogs

Tuesday’s coverage

For today’s feature story on first-year QB Graham Harrell, click here. For the final Training Camp Report of 2010, which focuses on the performance thus far of the run defense, click here.

Sports Illustrated picks Packers NFC champs, Rodgers MVP

Sports Illustrated‘s annual NFL preview issue, which hits newsstands this week, predicts the Green Bay Packers to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl and QB Aaron Rodgers to win the league’s MVP award.

The predictions were made by longtime SI writer Peter King, who has the Packers winning the NFC North and earning the No. 2 playoff seed in the NFC to get a first-round bye. He then has the Packers beating the Carolina Panthers in the divisional round at home and then going on the road to beat the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints in overtime in the NFC Championship.

King also has the Pittsburgh Steelers beating the Packers in Super Bowl XLV.

As for Rodgers, SI writer Damon Hack in his team preview of the Packers quotes Head Coach Mike McCarthy saying, “He’s in total control of our offense. We’ve given him all the responsibilities. There hasn’t been a quarterback that I’ve coached or coordinated that has as much responsibility as he does.”

Rodgers also is on one of SI’s regional covers for the preview issue.

Tuesday practice report

In the final practice before the preseason finale on Thursday, the Packers worked out in shells and did most of the team (11-on-11) drills at three-quarters speed.

P Chris Bryan was not at practice for a personal family situation that Head Coach Mike McCarthy termed “positive” in nature. Bryan’s wife has been expecting a baby. McCarthy said he didn’t know if Bryan would be available to play in Kansas City.

LB Brad Jones was back to full duty in practice, while Spencer Havner moved over to the defensive side and played at LB after practicing at TE most of the past week.

Sitting out were S Will Blackmon (knee), CB  Brandon Underwood (shoulder), RB Quinn Porter (knee), LB Clay Matthews (hamstring), LB Desmond Bishop (hamstring), T Chad Clifton (knee), DE Cullen Jenkins (calf), T/G Allen Barbre (back), and the three PUP players — S Atari Bigby (ankle), CB Al Harris (knee) and RB James Starks (hamstring).

In the QB hoop drill, No. 3 QB Graham Harrell had the best showing. Throwing short fade routes from inside the 10-yard line to the back corner of the end zone, Harrell put two in the hoop while Aaron Rodgers hit the rim once. After backing up to about 45 yards away and throwing with a strong wind that was making things difficult, Harrell hit the rim. That was the closest anyone came from the long distance.

One day after finding out he’d be taking all the punt- and kick-return reps in Kansas City on Thursday, WR Jason Chery had a rough special teams period. Fielding punts off the JUGS machine, Chery hesitated in charging a short one and then had it bounce off his hands as he reached low. Then he let another one drop in front of him that he had time to get under. Chery was seen after practice taking several more turns catching punts from the machine and looked much smoother.

A lot of the team work was in red-zone and goal-line packages, and TE Andrew Quarless made a couple of nice catches. He reached up and hauled in one-handed a high throw in the back corner from QB Matt Flynn, and he made a diving catch just across the goal line later in practice. WR Greg Jennings also made a nifty grab for a TD on a ball that was deflected up into the air by S Charlie Peprah.

As the final practice open to the public concluded, several players went over to the Ray Nitschke Field stands and slapped fives with fans and signed autographs before departing. All practices for the remainder of 2010 are closed to the public.

Coach McCarthy’s press conference transcript is here. Today’s Feature Story and Training Camp Report will be posted later.