Packers: Confirmations and surprises from win vs. Bears in Week 1
By Brady Busha
Surprise: Kevin King’s physical play
The most common knock on Kevin King is his health. A nagging shoulder injury has led to King playing in only 16 of 33 possible games, Thursday night included, but his most recent was a hamstring injury from early August.
When healthy, he has proven to be an impact player in a few ways, but it wasn’t always with tackling. That appeared to change in Chicago.
Not only did King tally five tackles and a pass breakup, he also was able to secure his first career sack against the Bears. He did bobble and drop what appeared to be a sure interception in the beginning of the second quarter, but his fluidity in stepping in front of it and disrupting the play is the kind of thing that has continued to give him playing time, even with the recent heavy injection of talent in this defense.
It was said in the beginning of the week that King would likely not play much, but every opportunity he had to impact the game, he took it. Strong wrap tackles and good shoulder thuds were the main feature to King’s night, and the near-interception was just the icing.
King has already proven that he can contribute with how he played last year, despite all of the injuries he sustained, bizarre as some may be. If King can remain healthy and maintain the physical and quick play he showed Thursday night, he may yet earn an extension to remain in Green Bay with this built-to-dominate defense.
Surprise: Jake Kumerow only saw the field once
One of the more exciting players in the Packers’ preseason games was wide receiver Jake Kumerow. He was a primary target for both quarterback Tim Boyle and recently-released quarterback DeShone Kizer.
Kumerow is also a fan favorite when he is on the field, but the structure and scheme of the new Packers’ offense rarely mandates having more than three receivers on the field at once. With this new system, Davante Adams, Geronimo Allison, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling were the three that took the field most commonly.
It’s good to know that the Packers are going to have Kumerow tucked in the back pocket and ready for action whenever they need him, and perhaps when they’re not facing a top-tier defense, they’ll experiment with packages to get him on the field. But for now, it appears that he is not considered a first option in the pass game just yet.
Surprise: Rashan Gary rarely played
The first-round pick out of Michigan, edge rusher Rashan Gary, only saw six snaps on Thursday night. This could be for a variety of reasons, the most likely of which being that Za’Darius and Preston Smith were both doing a fantastic job of pressuring Bears QB Mitch Trubisky all evening.
A physically talented and aggressive pass rusher is a great thing to have, and Gary will likely see his role expand as he reclaims his health from a late preseason injury scare. But as for Thursday, and possibly beyond that into the next few weeks, it appears that Mike Pettine wants to save Gary to be a supplemental pass rusher to interchange when Preston or Za’Darius Smith may be unavailable for a few plays at a time.