Good luck trying to guess who quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ backup might be going into the 2019 season.

In what was one of the most uninteresting preseason games in the history of preseason games on Thursday night, the Green Bay Packers fell to the Baltimore Ravens by a final score of 26-13.

If we learned anything from the game, it was that we don’t know anything about the battle for Green Bay’s backup quarterback spot based on what we saw from the performances of DeShone Kizer and Tim Boyle. The up and down performances of each have made assessing a favorite in the race to be backup a complete mystery.

For starters, Rodgers was a late scratch from the starting lineup due to lower back tightness. Going into the game, Rodgers was slated to play most of the first quarter. It was later revealed by head coach Matt LaFleur the move to hold Rodgers out was precautionary.

Because of that, Kizer got the start with the first-team offense and was anything but impressive. Of course, going against the Ravens’ first-team defense was never going to be easy, even for Rodgers himself.

But now entering Year 3 of his young NFL career, you’d expect Kizer to be able to make certain reads and throws that he simply wasn’t able to execute on Thursday night. On more than one occasion we saw Kizer miss an open receiver, many times with ample protection from the offensive line.

And that’s another thing – the offensive line provided good protection. A starting line (from left to right) of David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins/Lane Taylor, Corey Linsley, Billy Turner and Bryan Bulaga was able to keep Kizer clean for much of the first quarter. With a clean pocket comes more time to throw, and with more time to throw (usually) comes better decision-making. We didn’t see that from Kizer.

Kizer finished the night 5-of-10 for 70 yards. His best play came on a third-and-10 conversion to Geronimo Allison at the beginning of the second quarter. His worst play came on a misfired pass to Davante Adams on fourth-and-4 midway through the first quarter. He also had a batted ball at the line of scrimmage on a clean pocket on the play before.

Overall, Kizer is 13-of-23 for 172 yards and one touchdown with a 94.8 passer rating in two preseason games.

Though Kizer was shaky, perhaps less impressive was fellow backup Tim Boyle, who took over for Kizer late in the first half and played into the fourth quarter.

Similarly to Kizer, Boyle was inaccurate and lacked good decision-making on several occasions. This was no more evident than on a sack by Ravens linebacker Alvin Jones at the beginning of the fourth quarter (seen below). In what was actually a good blitz pickup on Jones by Packers running back Keith Ford, Boyle simply held onto the ball for too long. It’s hard to conclude what Boyle was seeing without looking at an aerial view on all-22 game film, but it appears to have been a poor decision on his part.

Boyle finished the game 12-of-21 for 107 yards and one touchdown. His best play came on a 7-yard touchdown strike to rookie receiver Darrius Shepherd in the back of the endzone midway through the third quarter. Shepherd had to stretch out to make the catch, but the throw was executed properly nonetheless. Perhaps Boyle’s worst play came on an air-mailed throw in the left corner of the endzone to Shepherd near the end of the first half, in which Shepherd had a good two or three steps on his defender up the left sideline.

Overall, Boyle is 15-of-26 for 147 yards and three touchdowns with a 112.8 passer rating through two preseason games.

If Kizer has anything going for him over Boyle up to this point, it’s that he had to face the Ravens’ first-team defense. Kizer was just as impressive against better competition (Boyle faced Baltimore’s second- and third-team defenses).

Of course, that argument is a double-edged sword, because that also means Kizer had the first-team offense at his disposal. Nonetheless, Boyle faced lesser competition and should be judged accordingly.

If the Packers coaching staff saw the same thing we saw against the Ravens, they’re probably still undecided about who the backup signal caller may be heading into the season. In fact, the battle for the backup spot appears to be as even as it was after last week’s game against the Houston Texans. If both quarterbacks continue the trajectory they’re on, we may not have a firm grasp on who the favorite could be until the final preseason game has been played.