Another Packer Family night washout

Posted by Mark Daniels on

There must be something about the first Saturday night in August.  For the fourth year in a row, the Packers Family Night scrimmage got rained on and for the second time in three years, the team barely spent any time on the field.  A strong line of thunderstorms rolled across Lambeau Field tonight after about 20 minutes worth of practice time.  The team headed for the locker room, the 43,000 fans scurried into the concourses and the fans waited out the rain for another 40 minutes to at least enjoy some fireworks.  Two years ago, the team completed it's warmup stretches and headed inside and the Packers sheepishly decided to give the fans a free visit to the Hall of Fame or stadium tour.  President Mark Murphy said no refunds will be given this time.  After the 2009 washout, the team decided the only way refunds would be given was if all of the events after 5:30 PM were cancelled.  Murphy said the team was better equipped to deal with the weather event, public safety officials and the stadium team did a very good job informing the fans of the coming storm, getting them under shelter and using the scoreboards and public address to keep all informed.  As for the practice itself, Mike McCarthy kept a lot of players out of uniform.  The following players didn't even dress, Clay Matthews, Lawrence Guy, Adrian Battles, Chris Campbell, Davon House, Eli Joseph, Charles Woodson, Jermichael Finley, Diyral Briggs, Tramon Williams and Greg Jennings.  After a brief warm-up period and individual drills, the special teams got the first snap of the night with the kickoff team.  Mason Crosby didn't even kick, he used a Jugs machine after rolling his ankle at Friday night's practice.  The kickoff cover unit consisted of Nick Collins, Brandon Underwood, Erik Walden, DJ Smith, Brad Jones, Jarrett Bush, Pat Lee, Spencer Havner, Brett Swain and Sam Shields.  After one simulated kick, the first team offense, with number one pick Derek Sherrod at left guard, took over at their own 20 for at least a 12 play series.   The first series lasted one play as Aaron Rodgers tried to hit James Jones on a short out route but Brandian Ross stepped in front and picked off the pass and raced 24 yards untouched into the end zone.  A rather auspicious snap for Rodgers.  The unit came right back out however and drove to the red zone, a big play from Rodgers to second round pick Randall Cobb covered 40 yards,  James Starks ripped off an 11 yard run and Donald Driver made a grab for 11, but the drive fizzled when a Rodgers pass for Driver at the goal line was deflected  by Anthony Bratton dropping in coverage.  The final set of plays was marred by the only injury of the night.  Underwood got caught under a pile on a Ryan Grant five yard run and had to be helped off the field.  He was using crutches in the locker room but the nature of the injury wasn't immediately disclosed.  James Jones made a nice 21 yard catch on the series which was capped by Rodgers' five yard fade route touchdown to Jordy Nelson who did a Lambeau leap into the northeast corner stands.   One last special teams play, the first team punt return went on the field with Cobb as the return man.  With that, the PA told fans to head out of the stadium bowl and the players jogged into the locker room.  And if you hit the link below, you'll get a host of interviews beginning with McCarthy, Packers president Mark Murphy and several players following another Lambeau washout on family night.

Locker Room quotes from Family Night

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