Green Bay Packers Camp Update — August 16: Without Parsons, Gannon's First Unit Sacked Pittsburgh Twice in One Series

Two sacks, one series, no Micah Parsons: Jonathan Gannon's first-team defense opened Thursday night in Pittsburgh by dropping the quarterback twice and forcing a three-and-out. In July we said the Packers' 2026 spread lived entirely in September — the division's highest-floor offense carrying a defensive experiment with a new coordinator, a new scheme, and no Parsons for at least the first month, with Javon Hargrave's interior push as the named insurance — and last Sunday we called it COMPLICATED, because Hargrave came off PUP while we were writing but Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed hit the injury report the same afternoon. This week the experiment got its first live series, and the scoreboard is the least informative thing about it.

Green Bay lost at the Steelers, 28 to 9, Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium in front of 64,164. Read past the number. Jordan Love played one series — 3 of 5 for 18 yards, including a 19-yard completion to Reed, no sacks taken — and departed after a field goal drive, saying afterward, per Bill Huber at Packers On SI, "I want all these guys to be able to go out there, get their reps." The number one offense was missing Tucker Kraft, Josh Jacobs, and most of the starting line, Aaron Banks among them, and Love's best red-zone shot to Reed was broken up by Asante Samuel Jr. After that it was Tyrod Taylor, Kyle McCord, and an undrafted rookie getting sacked three times in six plays, which is where 28 to 9 comes from.

The defensive tape splits cleanly in two, and the split is the story. Jonathan Gannon's first unit produced the best evidence of the experiment to date: Lukas Van Ness beat left tackle Troy Fautanu for a sack to force an opening three-and-out, Brenton Cox Jr. added a sack on the same drive, and the run defense held all night — Pittsburgh averaged 2.6 yards a carry with only one run longer than seven, per Huber. Van Ness afterward: "We came out fast... ready to hit somebody else after training camp." Then the depth got shredded. Pittsburgh's three quarterbacks combined to go 27 of 33 for 333 yards, per Mike Spofford at the team's website, with four touchdown drives built on chunk plays — the worst a 74-yard catch-and-run by Kaden Wetjen. Keisean Nixon, already rotated down to the second unit early in the week, showed poor effort on a missed tackle per Lombardi Ave's Freddie Boston, and Jaylin Simpson struggled in coverage after a strong practice week. Rookie corner Brandon Cisse's touchdown-saving tackle at the three was the depth unit's best moment. Starters passed, backups failed: for a September-shaped projection, only the first half of that sentence bears weight, and it is one series of weight.

The clean bright spot was the rookie kicker. Trey Smack scored every Green Bay point, going four for four by Spofford's count with makes from 58, 37, 58 and 38, one 58-yarder wiped by a Pittsburgh penalty. He had been 20 of 28 in camp, so this was the breakthrough. Matt LaFleur: "to hit really two (from 58) in one game, is pretty incredible." Smack's own postgame: "My mind's already switched to the Broncos."

Now last week's watch items, in order. Whether Golden and Reed practice this week: both did, returning Tuesday, with Golden spotted running with the first-team offense, per Rob Demovsky's reporting. Reed then played Thursday and caught the 19-yarder; Golden appears in no game coverage we can attribute, so whether he dressed Thursday is unconfirmed. Whether Hargrave graduates from individual work to team drills before cutdown: no reporting says he has. He was individual-only at his activation — "It felt real good today, just to be out there with the guys, just back playing football," per Huber — and he shows up in no game coverage. That item stays open, and it is the one carrying the September stakes. On the carryovers: Jacobs remained out with the groin, called at least one week and not considered concerning; Edgerrin Cooper's foot has no reported return; Kraft sat the game with no setback reported. New this week, the right guard job moved — Jacob Monk is taking first-team reps over Anthony Belton after Belton's poor Family Night, per Huber and Boston — and second-year receiver Savion Williams dominated Monday's practice as a route-runner, no gadget work required. Darian Kinnard and Anthony Campbell both left Thursday's game with injuries and have no updates.

Does the July framing hold? Complicated — the experiment's first live series was its most encouraging evidence yet, but the named September insurance still has not taken a team-drill rep, the depth coverage failed loudly, and the offense's floor went largely untested by choice. What would change it: whether Hargrave reaches team drills before Thursday's home game against the Broncos, and whether Golden and Jacobs are on the field for it. We'll check Sunday.

_Data via nflverse._