Brohm less than stellar in pro debut

If Brian Brohm ends up being a productive player in the NFL, then his first professional snap will forever be utilized as a humorous anecdote. If he doesn't, then it will likely be viewed as an omen.

In front of a packed house at Lambeau Field, in the middle of a Monday night game being televised by ESPN, Brohm took the field for the first time as a Green Bay Packer and promptly launched a pass straight into the arms of Cincinnati linebacker Corey Mays.

Even though tight end Troy Humphrey took the blame for the INT after the game - he said he was staying in to block when he should have been out on a pattern - the ball was thrown into triple coverage and preceded by a noticeable case of happy feet.

Brohm managed to settle down and complete some passes to guys on his own team over the course of the next five drives, but he still finished the game a pedestrian 8-of-17 for 70 yards.

Still, Packer head coach Mike McCarthy's postgame assessment of Brohm's performance was overwhelmingly positive.

(on the quarterback group) "I would think it's a starting point for both of our rookies. We knew coming into the preseason that we had a lot of work to do there. There are going to be things from my vantage point that Brian (Brohm) did some really good things from the game. And we'll build off of that. He was in a bad spot there on his first play of the game with the interception. The route progression wasn't what it was supposed to be and that's something where you have to have the discipline to move on to the next receiver. He will definitely learn from that situation. But once again, the productivity was there. Was it clean? No, it wasn't clean, but there's a number of factors going on. We'll get that cleaned up and I think it was a very good first solid first step for the whole quarterback position."

On the other side of the ball, former Louisville linebacker Brandon Johnson started for Cincinnati and finished second on the team with four tackles. Mario Urrutia saw the field, but did not make a catch.

Brohm and the Packers will be back in action on Saturday at San Francisco. The Bengals won't play again until Sunday, when they host the mighty Lions of Detroit.