From Rodgers to LaFleur, Packers Keep Faith in Davis

After being guilty of a turnover in each of the first two preseason games, Green Bay Packers tight end Tyler Davis scored two touchdowns at practice on Tuesday.

The strength to bounce back comes from a “great backbone” of support that includes quarterback Aaron Rodgers. When Davis scored against Rasul Douglas, Rodgers was among the first to congratulate Davis in the end zone. They shared a brief conversation before huddling for the next play.

“I think that me and him just know what recipe works for me,” Davis said. “He knows that certain things that I need to work on, things that I’ve been really trying to focus on myself, because he gets a good kick and a good smile when I do it. It’s awesome to come back to someone like him and know that I’m using the coaching points that he’s given me to make good progress.”

And what is that recipe? Certainly nothing as complicated as The Colonel’s secret blend of herbs and spices.

“I really think it’s just playing within my game, you know what I mean?” Davis said. “Just playing my game, playing to my skill-set, not trying to be a hero. Just play this game the way my body was built to play it and not trying to do too much.”

The team hyped Davis throughout the spring. Following a draft in which the Packers didn’t draft a tight end, general manager Brian Gutekunst said, “I think we might have something” with Davis. A former college quarterback at Connecticut, Davis drew easy comparisons to Green Bay’s established tight end, Robert Tonyan, who opened his college career as a quarterback at Indiana State.

Despite the drop/interception vs. the 49ers and a fumble and offensive holding call vs. the Saints, Davis appears to be the same lock to make the roster that he was when training camp opened about a month ago.

Why? Early in training camp, Gutekunst pointed to Davis’ speed and intelligence as reasons to bet on upside and to show patience with a player who was still “very raw” as a tight end.

That upside is why LaFleur said the Packers “still have a lot of confidence in Tyler” despite the turnovers.

“I feel like he’s definitely done a good job in a lot of aspects,” LaFleur said this week. “No. 1, his value on teams alone is definitely noticeable. It’s not just in the games, it’s been in practice, as well. He’s still a young, developing player. I think there’s a lot of growth there for him. And we haven’t lost any confidence in him over two plays.”

With so many supporters, Davis didn’t necessarily need to score two touchdowns and add a big gain on a third-down catch to rebuild confidence. But it didn’t hurt, either.

“Anytime you have a day like that, it’s definitely a beneficial thing to spring you forward,” he said. “So, I was excited to have today. You play this game because it’s fun, you know what I mean? Obviously, you never want those bad plays to happen to you, but you know they’re going to come and I just take them with a grain of salt and move on and remember why you play this game, [which is] to have fun. I started playing this game when I was 6 years old because it was fun.”

Davis will try to build upon a good week of practice when the Packers face the Chiefs in Thursday night’s preseason finale. With support from Gutekunst and LaFleur as well as Rodgers and Marcedes Lewis, it’ll be up to Davis to follow his own advice and make the plays he’s capable of making. He can’t erase what happened against the 49ers and the Saints. He can only catch the next pass and make the next block while building for the regular season.

“I think for me it’s just having a strong foundation in the first place to not let plays like that really drag you down too much,” he said. “Obviously, it’s just a great lesson for life. Sometimes, stuff happens. Unfortunately, it’s happened to me, and you just put your head down and keep working. There’s nothing you can do. You can’t go back, so there’s no reason to dwell on it. You just keep moving forward and keep working.”