Packers Player of the Game:
Ryan Longwell made both of his field goal attempts, first connecting from 41-yards out in the second quarter, before punching it through the uprights from 23-yards away in the fourth quarter.
Eagles Player of the Game:
Former Packer Dorsey Levens looked good in his first game as an Eagle, tallying 64 yards on 8 carries (8.0 avg.), with a 1-yard touchdown run in his brief stint on the field.
THEY SAID IT:
GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman -
On receiving corps: "At this point right now, I think our receivers are coming around. I think that was a group that was revamped and I think we're finding out that we have some pretty good players in that group. We have to get them healthy, but once we do I think we're going to have a good receiving corps."
On Donald Driver: "I was disappointed in that post route that he had in his grasp. Brett (Favre) could have led him a little bit more. The ball was knocked out. Donald Driver is a pretty consistent player."
On Tony Fisher: "I was impressed with Fisher. He's run like that in practice and he continued that in the game. The only thing is he wasn't doing that against their first defense, he was doing it against their second defense, so it wasn't a great barometer, although they do have a good second defense . . . The only mistake he made, he took his eyes off a check-down and dropped it from Doug (Pederson). He turned his eyes upfield, dropped the pass and he should have pulled that in, but he had a good blitz pickup, I thought he ran extremely well. He broke a long one against a blitz they ran . . . So I thought he did, for an undrafted free agent trying to make a football team, he did all he could do today and he just has to build on that."
On former Packer Dorsey Levens: "Dorsey Levens had a typical Dorsey Levens day, that's just the grind-it-out type of player that he is. I'm happy for him, I'm not happy for our second defense. We didn't do a great job getting off of blocks and making plays. He just took control of the second quarter when he ran the football."
On Brett Favre's interception: "He and I had a little conversation about that on the sideline. He thinks he can make every throw on the field and I said, it's a little bit more difficult when guys are hanging off of your back, but Brett thought Driver was on his way back and just didn't get enough on it."
On Brett Favre's timing with the receivers: "I didn't think there was a problem with timing. We haven't had a problem with timing in practice except for the scrimmage a week ago. We had a little scrimmage there, we were 0-for-4 there for a time, but we were good in the red zone after that. I thought tonight the timing was okay. Obviously (rookie Craig) Nall wasn't connecting with those young guys in there. I think their timing was off, but I don't think Brett had a problem with timing with the receivers."
On Craig Nall: "I wish he could have completed that touchdown pass at the end of the game there, even though it wasn't much to go to. I wish he would have brought us into the endzone, but I thought he made good decisions for the most part. He missed on some throws, but the decision-making was okay. We have high expectations for him so I'm not going to say that he did everything perfectly, that's for sure."
Brett Favre -
On performance of Packers' first-string offense: "I thought we ran the ball well, I thought we threw the ball well. Phili has a great defense and they played a really simple defense, but what they did give us we handled well. Really, the only times we were stopped was when we stopped ourselves, which is a good sign."
On former teammate Dorsey Levens: "Dorsey did great. I told Dorsey afterwards, I wish he was still with us. He's a great guy, good friend and we had a lot of good games and plays together. It was good to see him back and running the ball well, it's just unfortunate that it was with the other team, but I was happy for him."
Robert Ferguson -
On injured groin: "I'm fine, I just tweaked my groin a little bit. It's just been something that's nagging throughout camp . . . As a player you have to go through that . . . I can't afford to take any days off. It's a situation where I have to go out and get better every day and try to help the team."
Tony Fisher -
On his performance: "I felt pretty good considering it was the first time I played in the NFL or an NFL game. Other than dropping that one pass, I feel like I had a pretty good game today."
On big run: "It felt good. It kind of reminded me of being back at college. Being the first time I had that break, I wanted to turn it into a touchdown, but I have to remember that I'm not always going to be the fastest guy out there."
Marques Anderson -
On hamstring injury: "For some reason when I was running it just kind of knotted up on me. It didn't pull or anything. It's not a pull, I just kind of got a cramp in it. It was frustrating because I just got out there and I was excited. I feel like we're going to have a good team this year and I'm just looking forward to getting out there and doing it."
Joe Johnson -
On taking the power end position in place of injured Vonnie Holliday: "I believe it's going to serve as a plus for us throughout the year and down the road so far as all of us on the defensive line being able to serve as interchangeable parts."
On performance of Packers' first-string defense: "We played okay, we still made some mistakes and we have a lot of things we need to improve on. This is good for us, we get a chance to get some things on tape and go back to the drawing board and correct some things before the real bullets start flying."
Ahman Green -
On backup running game: "I think it went well. I think Rondell (Mealey) showed that he can handle taking a lot of plays in a row, because sometimes they give me a spell, you've got to be ready to go five, six, seven plays in a row . . . It was great to see Tony Fisher go out there and run hard, (Jason) Brookins in his first year in the offense go out there and run hard. It's good to see that because then you know that they know what they have to do, and under pressure they didn't panic . . . We've got three more preseason games and all they can do is get better from here."
GAME NOTES:
Announced attendance at Veterans Stadium – 58,546
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Ryan Longwell’s 23-yard field goal completed a 13-play, 74-yard Packers drive (6:45, 4th quarter). Time of drive was 5:31.
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Rod Smart's 35-yard touchdown catch-and-run completed a 10-play, 76-yard Eagles drive (12:20, 4th quarter). Time of drive was 3:58.
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Anthony Sessions left the game to receive X-rays on an injured left shoulder.
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Robert Ferguson aggravated a groin injury. His return is questionable.
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Doug Pederson was 4-7 passing for 32 yards in relief of Brett Favre. Pederson was replaced by rookie Craig Nall in the third quarter.
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David Akers' 37-yard field goal completed a 8-play, 51-yard Eagles drive that included 2 penalties (6:38, 3rd quarter). Time of drive was 4:12.
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Javon Walker sprained his left ankle. Precautionary X-rays were negative. He is unlikely to return.
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David Akers' 23-yard field goal completed a 9-play, 63-yard Eagles drive that included 1 penalty (0:03, 2nd quarter). Time of drive was 1:53.
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Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb on the night was 5-5 passing for 15 yards. He was replaced in the second quarter by Koy Detmer.
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Ryan Longwell made his first field goal try of the year from 41 yards (1:54, 2nd quarter), completing a 10-play, 57-yard drive. Time of drive was 4:38.
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Brett Favre on the night was 6-10 passing for 53 yards, 1 interception. He was replaced in the second quarter by Doug Pederson.
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Former Packer Dorsey Levens finished off the first scoring drive allowed by the Packers this preseason with a 7-yard run into the right corner of the endzone (6:34, 2nd quarter). Levens' score completed an 11-play, 68-yard drive that included 1 penalty. Drive time was 6:58.
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Rondell Mealey capped off the Packers' first scoring drive of the preseason, diving into the left corner of the endzone for a 1-yard run (13:32, 2nd quarter). Mealey's score completed a 10-play, 60-yard drive that included 4 penalties. Drive time was 7:08.
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The Packers dominated time of possession in the first quarter, 11:34-3:26.
The Packers had 6 first-quarter first downs, the Eagles had 0.
The Packers were 3-of-4 on third-down. The Eagles were 0-2.
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Marques Anderson is questionable to return to the game due to an injured hamstring.
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Brett Favre broke free from two would-be sacks by Brandon Whiting and Darwin Walker before throwing his first interception of the preseason. Rashard Cook came away with the downfield pass intended for Donald Driver.
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Cletidus Hunt earned the first Packers sack of the preseason, tracking down Donovan McNabb for a loss of 9 yards.
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The following players will not play tonight due to injury:
Najeh Davenport, Earl Dotson, Antuan Edwards, Aaron Fields, Mike Flanagan, Scott Frost, Terry Glenn, Windrell Hayes, Vonnie Holliday, Ardian Hollingshed, Kerry Hood Keith Thibodeaux, Nate Wayne, Tyrone Williams.
Joe Johnson will start at power end in place of Holliday. Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila will play in Johnson's elephant end position. |
