GREEN BAY, Wis. — Mike McCarthy might find it impossible to pass on Vince Young's talent when it comes time for the Green Bay Packers coach to pick his No. 2 quarterback, even given Young's limited knowledge of the offense.
Working from a limited play list against the Seattle Seahawks on Friday night, Young took a big step toward beating out Graham Harrell for the No. 2 quarterback job in the Packers' 17-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Lambeau Field.
PREVIEWS: For every division
Whatever his shortcomings as a pure passer, the 30-year-old Young demonstrated athleticism that can turn a bad play into a good one, and probably made himself the front-runner to back up Aaron Rodgers. In his two series, Young ran for 39 yards, was 6-of-7 passing for 41 yards and a touchdown and finished with a 130.7 quarterback rating.
"The dimension of running, that's something we really wanted to see (from Young)," McCarthy said after the game. "I think you're just seeing Vince getting more and more comfortable with what we're asking of him, particularly for as much as man-to-man (defense) as we were seeing tonight.
"Very instinctive and made big plays and did very well on his first drive. It was unfortunate the high snap on second down on the second drive. I think Vince is one of the players that definitely took advantage of his opportunities tonight."
McCarthy didn't use this game as a dress rehearsal for the regular season, as he has in the third preseason game in previous seasons. Though most of the starters played the entire first half, McCarthy had another agenda and pulled Rodgers after only one possession.
McCarthy clearly wanted to take a long look at Harrell with the Packers' starters against the Seahawks' starting defense, which last season led the NFL in fewest points allowed. To gain that look, McCarthy had to forego giving his No. 1 offense extended to playing time to find a rhythm. In Rodgers' only series, the Packers' 52-yard drive ended with Mason Crosby's 38-yard field goal.
PHOTOS: Best of NFL preseason
The Seahawks, on the other hand, stuck with quarterback Russell Wilson through their first possession of the third quarter. Wilson put up only three points, a 27-yard field goal by Steven Hauschka on the game's first series. The Packers also intercepted Wilson twice, cornerback Casey Hayward on a ball tipped by linebacker Nick Perry, and safety Jerron McMillian on a diving interception when Wilson led receiver Doug Baldwin too far on a post pattern.
"I feel very good about the process," McCarthy said. "You can't sometimes have it both ways. We try, we want to win the game, we wanted to win tonight especially at home. But there's more information needed. That's what we juggled.
"I thought it was very important for a number of our players to play early, and I was very pleased with a lot of the production we had on defense, especially against Russell Wilson and their offense. We'll see what the video says in the morning and move on from there."
The Packers also took the kind of injury hit they were looking to avoid in a preseason game. Four starters or significant backups left the game because of injuries: safety Morgan Burnett (hamstring), cornerback Casey Hayward (reinjured hamstring), linebacker Brad Jones (hamstring) and backup running back DuJuan Harris (reinjured knee).
"I don't feel good about the injuries," McCarthy said. "It's something that's going on through the league. It's part of the game of football, it factors into your decisions, that's the way it goes. We just have to get these guys back. It's a little surprising that we had these injuries tonight, but we'll see how these guys feel in the morning, maybe it's not as bad as we think right now."
McCarthy's long look at Harrell meant the presumptive No. 2 quarterback coming into the season worked behind the Packers' starting offensive line and receiving corps, minus injured Randall Cobb (biceps) and Jordy Nelson (knee), for all four of his series in the first half. He was mismatched only on his final drive of the night, starting the third quarter, when he took the No. 2 offense against the Seahawks' starting defense.
Harrell finished the night with a 56.2 passer rating (6-for-13 passing for 49 yards). In three preseason games this year, he has a 54.6 rating and has put up only three points in nine series. He got the Packers in scoring position once in his five drives, but on fourth-and-two from the 4, tight end Jermichael Finley bobbled and dropped a diving chance at a touchdown pass.
"(Harrell) had some tough breaks there with the penalties," McCarthy said, "but the rhythm of the offense and some of the things mechanically, I would like to have seen us be more sharp there. We played primarily against an eight-man front and we didn't do a very good job handling that."
Young, on the other hand, came into the game after both teams had gone to their bench players. Still, for the first time in a preseason game, Young showed he still poses a serious threat with his ability to scramble and run bootlegs. He loped through the Seahawks on a 21-yard scramble up a seam in the middle of the field on his second play. A 19-yard scramble to his left set the Packers up with first-and-goal from the Seahawks' 3.
Young was fortunate the drive got to that point, because on his third play he threw directly to Seahawks linebacker Allen Bradford, who dropped an easy interception. But given new life, Young's scrambling and throws on the run set up the Packers' lone touchdown. His touchdown pass was a 1-yard throw to fullback Jonathan Amosa.
Young's other possession was ruined when he failed to handle an errant shotgun snap from Patrick Lewis.
Pete Dougherty writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, a Gannett property.
No comments:
Post a Comment