One down. Two to go. The Green Bay Packers can take away plenty of lessons from their preseason curtain-raiser against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While the fourth-quarter collapse may bring back painful memories from January, the Packers can head back home with more positives than negatives. The result is irrelevant. Trey Smack had outscored the Steelers until the fourth-string players entered the game late on.
Thursday night gave the starters a chance to shake off the rust, and for those on the roster bubble to make a statement. Who were the biggest winners and losers from the preseason opener?
Biggest winners and losers after the Packers' preseason opener against Steelers
Winner: Trey Smack
Trey Smack's performance is unquestionably the Packers' biggest win in the preseason opener.
Smack has endured a shaky training camp. For every step forward, he seemingly takes two steps back. But not on Thursday night. The rookie looked in complete control all night long.
The record books will show Smack converting three of three field goals, including a 58-yard attempt. He actually hit another 58-yarder on the Packers' opening possession. An unnecessary roughness penalty on former Packers defensive lineman Dean Lowry gave Green Bay a fresh set of downs, wiping out Smack's conversion.
But that's for the stat sheet. The reality is that Smack stepped up and booted it through the uprights with ease, regardless of whether it "officially" counted or not.
It's exactly the performance the Packers' sixth-round rookie needed.
Winner: Kyle McCord
Jordan Love and Tyrod Taylor completed a combined seven passes in their brief cameo performances before making way for Kyle McCord, who took the lion's share of the snaps.
And he made the most of them. At no point did McCord make any "wow" throws or look like a quarterback destined to become the main backup, but he looked comfortable. McCord completed 12 of 16 passes for 102 yards with a 91.1 passer rating, while scrambling for 10 yards.
It wasn't a breathtaking performance by any means, and none of his drives led to touchdowns, but McCord did enough to all but wrap up the QB3 job.
His most impressive moment came in the two-minute drill before halftime. McCord led a six-play, 35-yard drive that took just 46 seconds off the clock, giving Smack time to hit one of his 58-yard field goals. McCord completed four passes in the two-minute drill, including a 10-yard pass to Savion Williams and a 12-yarder to Isaiah Neyor, before hurrying up the offense to spike the ball.
"Great poise. To operate in that two-minute drive the way he did, I don't believe he's had that live yet in that situation," said head coach Matt LaFleur. "He rifled the inside slant, and to have the urgency to get up and spike the ball – was there one second left? Yeah, I thought that was just incredible execution."
Winner: Lukas Van Ness
Micah Parsons is expected to miss at least a month of the regular season, which means the Packers will need their other edge defenders to fill the void.
The starters weren't out there for long, but Lukas Van Ness made an impact. He was disruptive on the Steelers' opening drive. While he's only credited with one tackle, Van Ness probably should have a sack, or half a sack at the very least. He got to quarterback Mason Rudolph and made contact, but the sack officially went to Zaire Franklin.
Either way, Van Ness set the tone while he was out there. The Packers need to see more of that.
Winner: Murvin Kenion III
Safety Murvin Kenion III faces an uphill battle to make the 53-man roster, but he certainly helped his chances in this game. Kenion led the Packers with six tackles, four of which were solo.
The undrafted rookie also saved a touchdown by smartly shoving Germie Bernard out of bounds to prevent him from getting both feet in. It was a heads-up play. Kenion has something to build on.
Loser: Keisean Nixon
Keisean Nixon would have the benefit of the doubt if this weren't a concerning pattern.
Rewind to Green Bay's playoff loss to Chicago. You'll probably remember Nixon inexcusably jumping out of the way of D'Andre Swift as he dived into the end zone. Instead of trying to stop Swift on the 1-yard line or, better yet, force a fumble, Nixon avoided contact in a crucial moment of the game.
So we probably shouldn't have expected anything different in the preseason opener. Nixon badly missed a tackle on Steelers rookie Germie Bernard, who turned it into a 25-yard gain. Where was the effort?
Packers fans will forgive mistakes and bad plays, but Nixon's apparent lack of effort on that play was the bigger concern, preseason or not.
Loser: Kyron Drones
Rookie quarterback Kyron Drones spent most of the game on the sideline watching McCord put in an impressive performance. That alone may have ended Drones' hopes of winning the QB3 job, but he then failed to make the most of his limited opportunities.
He entered the game for Green Bay's final two drives. In that time, Drones threw one incompletion and took three sacks, including a brutal 15-yard loss.
McCord was already comfortably ahead of Drones on the depth chart, and the gap widened in Pittsburgh. It would appear the QB3 competition is over.
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