The Green Bay Packers’ coaching staff, including coordinators and assistants, spoke to the media on Friday following the Packers’ 28-9 preseason loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game was an odd one: Green Bay held the lead with their third-string units (even though it was a bit of a rock match), but when the fourth-string defense entered, they gave up three straight touchdowns to end the game.
So what did the Packers’ staff have to say about the performance? Here’s what we got on Friday.
First of all, head coach Matt LaFleur said there were no long-term injuries sustained in the game, a great sign. Honestly, that’s probably what fans were hoping the most for going into Thursday’s action.
This means that defensive lineman Anthony Campbell and offensive lineman Darian Kinnard, the two players who dropped out of play and did not later return to the field, should be good to go in the near future. That’s big, considering that Kinnard is projected to make the 53-man roster and Campbell is on the roster bubble right now, fighting for the sixth defensive line spot with Jonathan Ford and Nazir Stackhouse.
When rookie guard Jager Burton, who started at left guard with Aaron Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele out of the starting lineup yesterday, was brought up, LaFleur mentioned that Burton and Jacob Monk, who started at right guard, are making it “extremely difficult” for the team to simply hand the left guard job back to 2025 starter Aaron Banks once he’s healthy. Before this comment, it was assumed that the Packers’ preferred starting offensive line during the regular season would be Jordan Morgan, Banks, Sean Rhyan, Anthony Belton and Bako-Bewele. Belton has started at right tackle as Bako-Bewele’s injury replacement, but maybe that’s just Green Bay’s attempt at getting their “best five” on the field, rather than where players will be lining up in the regular season.
When LaFleur was asked about whether or not Banks had surgery, he simply stated, “I’ll let him answer that,” leading to speculation online that Banks may have had surgery that the Packers did not approve of. Again, that’s just speculation as of now. Banks is dealing with an undisclosed knee injury, for what that’s worth.
The offensive line rotation might be even more interesting than we originally thought.
On the defensive side of the ball, there was universal praise for rookie cornerback Brandon Cisse and how he carries himself as a 21-year-old professional. New secondary coach/passing game coordinator Bobby Babich, who came to Green Bay after being the Buffalo Bills’ defensive coordinator, stated plainly that there is a cornerback competition, but that returning starter Keisean Nixon has been taking coaching “great.” In all likelihood, Cisse, Carrington Valentine (who missed Week 1 of the preseason with a hamstring injury) and free agent signing Benjamin St-Juste are going to keep battling for the spot opposite Nixon up until (at least) Week 1 of the regular season.
DeMarcus Covington, who was previously the Packers’ defensive line coach and run game coordinator under Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 defense, has been promoted to the title of outside linebackers coach/run game coordinator/assistant head coach — defense under Jonathan Gannon’s new 3-4 defense. Covington said that edge defender Lukas Van Ness, who was involved in a sack in one of the three snaps that the defensive starters played on Thursday, is “one of our best players” when he’s healthy.
Defensive line coach Vince Oghobaase, who was Covington’s assistant defensive line coach under Hafley, also praised Campbell, who he said has recorded 10 to 12 batdowns at the line of scrimmage throughout camp.
Overall, the coaching staff seemed pretty happy with their top two units, while admitting that the team needed to work on tackling. Gannon said that this was just the second live tackling opportunity that the team has had, with the other one being the reserve units’ series on Family Night last week.