Released Saturday were wide receiver Jake Allen, cornerback Scorpio Babers, defensive tackle Conrad Bolston, center Brennen Carvalho, safety Tyrone Culver, linebacker Spencer Havner, tight end Joey Haynos, running back Noah Herron, guard Ryan Keenan, linebacker Danny Lansanah, defensive tackle Alfred Malone, running back Vernand Morency, defensive tackle Daniel Muir, cornerback Joe Porter, wide receiver Johnny Quinn, wide receiver Taj Smith, wide receiver Brett Swain, tackle Orrin Thompson and fullback Corey White.

None of these entirely surprise me. There are a few guys such as Allen that could have made an impact in the future, but the Packers are just too crowded at wide receiver. Swain was the only 2008 draft pick cut. Swain failed to live up to expectations as he was compared to New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker early in the workouts.

The cuts that have the most impact on the team are the cuts of Morency and Herron.  Morency seemed like he had the best chance to make the team after Ryan Grant and Brandon Jackson, as he was the most proficient pass blocker and would be the most experienced.  Herron seemed like he would have value on special teams, but the Packers roster just became too crowded and he had to go.

The emergence of undrafted rookie Kregg Lumpkin is the main reason why Morency and Herron became expendable.  Lumpkin rushed for 153 yards on 38 carries this preseason and showed great potential as a running back.  Playing behind Grant and Jackson, Lumpkin gives the Packers three running backs with less than two full years of NFL experience.  The former Georgia Bulldog will most likely see the field frequently as there are still doubts about Jackson’s ability as a running back and blocker.

The Packers also placed defensive tackle Rodney Allen, offensive lineman Junius Coston, and long snapper J.J. Jansen on injured reserve, ending their seasons.  There are plenty of offensive linemen on the Packers roster to pick up for Coston and it appears the Packers will sign Thomas Gafford to take Jansen’s spot.  Gafford was with the Packers for the offseason and training camp before being released.

“We just stunk,” offensive tackle Mark Tauscher said. “You can’t color it and put it in any other light. We flat-out stunk, and from an offensive standpoint, there’s nothing you can say. We flat-out were no good.”

I think that summarizes the overall performance. Since this is not a regular season game, I’m not going to go through and give all the individual stats and such. I’ll just cover the topics that I said I was not concerned about above.

Porous Offensive Line Play
The offensive line has long been a strong point of Green Bay Packers football. It wasn’t last night. Granted, they were playing a talented 3-4 defense, but people, it’s the San Fran-freaking-cisco 49ers. That’s not supposed to happen, even in preseason. The offensive line gave up six sacks last night, four of which were on the first team offensive line. Rodgers’ play was shaky from there on out.  I think the poor quarterback play could be a direct correlation from the offensive line play, but still, it was bad.

Despicable Backup Quarterback Play
So everyone thinks Brian Brohm is the backup quarterback.  Hell, some people wanted the Packers to ditch Rodgers for Brohm.  He had the job locked up from the time he was drafted, right?  Not so fast, my friend.  Brohm has been struggling.  Last night he was 4-9 for 33 yards and a fumble.  Not good.  Matt Flynn has quietly worked his way up into contention and could possibly beat out Brohm.  I’m starting to wonder if Ted Thompson is starting to regret his decision not to bring in a veteran quarterback, but something tells me he isn’t.  If he is doubting himself, he’s screwed as most of the decent backups are off the market.  A trade could possibly be in the works.  Possibly.

Lack of a Rushing Attack
Kregg Lumpkin rushed for 51 yards on 10 carries.  That boy is supposed to be cut by now.  Noah Herron rushed for 35 yards on six carries.  I didn’t think he’d be able to stay on the team either.  His main competition for the number three running back, Vernand Morency, rushed for a single yard on his single carry.  He was the leading receiver for the team, however, with one reception for 20 yards.  Brandon Jackson had 10 yards rushing.  The rushing attack is not looking good.  Ryan Grant needs to get healthy and get his ass back out on the field.  It’s great and all that he came to the voluntary workouts while holding out, but come on man, I’d rather have you skip the voluntary workouts and come into training camp on time.  Grant has set himself, Rodgers, the offensive line, and the offense back by not coming into camp on time.  I am absolutely furious right now about this.  Of course, as I said about the despicable backup quarterback play, the running game’s lackluster performance (except for Lumpkin) can be based off of the offensive line’s horrible play.

Inability to Stop the 49ers Offense
The defense was disgusting this game.  It’s J.T. O’-freaking-Sullivan torching the Packers for 154 yards.  What the hell?  Bring this up to par.  Brandon Chillar may have moved ahead of Brady Poppinga in the race for the final linebacker spot.  Yeah.  I actually had already had this part written but it got deleted and I forget most of it.  The Packers D needs to shape up.  I know it’s only preseason, and preseason does not matter overall, but I am rather concerned.

We do have hope however.  I remember an epic year where the Minnesota Vikings went 4-0 in the preseason, only to sputter, and finish in last place.  So hope remains for the Packers.

But now the two teams are in different directions.  Green Bay is breaking in a new quarterback, while San Francisco is still trying to find the successor for Young.  Ironically, Aaron Rodgers could be in San Francisco.  In the days leading up to the 2005 NFL Draft, the 49ers were torn between Rodgers and Alex Smith.  They chose Smith No. 1, letting Rodgers free-fall all the way down to #24 where Ted Thompson snatched him up.  Rodgers got the job of holding the clipboard for Favre for three years before getting his chance.  Smith was thrown into the fire Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles.  Smith has gone through three offensive coordinators in three years and is now on his fourth in Mike Martz.  Rodgers had to deal with the Favre debacle.  Smith is now competing with J.T. O’Sullivan and Shaun Hill for the starting quarterback position.  Rodgers is the man in Green Bay.

Yeah, tough cookies Alex.

Anyway, five things to watch for in tonight’s game:

1. The aforementioned storyline between Smith and Rodgers.  Yes, I know it’s preseason, but I’ll take any storyline not involving Favre I can get.

2. The battle for the backup running back.  As I mentioned yesterday, the battle for third-string running back is heating up.  Ryan Grant is not expected to play, so Brandon Jackson, Vernand Morency, and Noah Herron should see the majority of the carries and a chance to show what they can do.

3. The 49ers defense.  They’ve spent loads of cash on this lately, so let’s see if the cash will come through for them.

4. The Packers defense.  The Packers defense is going to have to do more work than they did last season with the offense in transition, so it should be interesting to see how they feast on a pretty weak offense.

5. The battle for backup quarterback.  Brian Brohm was thought to have this job locked up as soon as he was drafted, but fellow rookie Matt Flynn has impressed coaches and is expected to challenge Brohm.  Intriguing.

I’m not going to be able to watch this game, but good luck to the Packers.  I’ll have a report on it tomorrow.

According to coaches, Jackson is supposed to be the third-down back, but has shown trouble picking up the blitz in practice and in Monday’s preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals.  Herron and Morency have both shown they can pick up the blitz, but their overall skill set is not near Jackson’s.  Herron missed all of 2007 with a knee injury while Morency was primarily a pass blocker in 2007.  I did not expect Herron to be re-signed this offseason, but Ted Thompson sees something in him.

Also, it appears that 2007 sixth-round pick DeShawnn Wynn is running out of options, as he tweaked his ankle earlier in practice and took himself out of the Bengals game.  He is not expected to play Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers.  He was the Packers’ most successful running back in 2007 until a shoulder injury sidelined him for the season and gave Grant a shot.

My pick: Morency beats out Herron for the third running back spot.