4 Preseason Points Before Pack Takes on St. Louis

On Saturday, the Packers traveled to St. Louis for Week 2 of the pre-season. After dealing with monsoon-like weather down in Nashville last week against the Titans, the team welcomed the pristine conditions inside a dome.

The lack of weather also allowed the coaches to get an ideal look at some of the players jockeying for their spot on the depth chart, or fighting to even make the final roster. Here are a few things that popped out to me:

1. Aaron Rodgers is amazing. Okay, on to the next point.

2. No really, Rodgers and the first-team looked fantastic on Saturday. The hurry-up offense rattled off a 12-play, 86-yard opening drive in a little over five minutes that resulted in a Rodgers touchdown to Randall Cobb. Rodgers went 6-6 for 47 yards on the drive with a 14-yard scramble, and Eddie Lacy took care of the rest on the ground - doing that "run-you-over-like-a-Mack-truck" thing he does pretty well. They really got my fantasy football juices flowing!

The second drive was much of the same as the team marched 80 yards down the field in a seemingly easy fashion, but disappointingly had to settle for a Mason Crosby 31-yard field goal after a Jordy Nelson touchdown was waived off due to a David Bakhtiari penalty. After the game, Rodgers stated, "We scored and we stayed healthy. That's a perfect pre-season game." Head coach Mike McCarthy also commented, "I was very pleased with the first offense. I thought Aaron was excellent." Hard to argue with them there!

3. J.C. Tretter and the rest of the offensive line held their own against the Rams D-line. Rodgers was flushed out of the pocket and had to scramble once, but never really faced any threatening pressure from the Rams. They also provided Lacy with nice running lanes over the first two series. Rodgers had nothing but praise for Tretter after the game saying, "It was pretty seamless. He's done a great job. He's not somebody you worry about."

4. Scott Tolzien was given nearly two quarters of work on Saturday to prove himself, and went 10-15 for 107 yards. He also had a touchdown to Myles White called back due to a Corey Linsley penalty. While Rodgers was provided a comfortable pocket on his first two drives, Tolzien wasn't quite as fortunate. Tackle Derek Sherrod seemed to resemble a turnstile at times, as he allowed rookie DT Eric Westbrooks a few too many hits on the quarterback.

The Packers now turn their attention to the Oakland Raiders who will be visiting Lambeau Field on August 22 for Week 3 of the pre-season.