GREEN BAY -- Matt Flynn was sitting in his locker Friday night when some genius (um, that'd be me) pointed out that most folks simply assumed that, by virtue of his seventh-round draft status, he'd be the Packers' third-string quarterback this season while second-round pick Brian Brohm would get the primary backup gig behind Aaron Rodgers.

Flynn only smiled, opting not to point out what happens when you ass-u-me.

"I don't really assume anything here," he said. "I didn't know what the situation was going to be or what it's going to be like at the end of camp. I'm just going to go out and play as hard as I can and let the coaches do their job."

And that's good, since coach Mike McCarthy acknowledged after Wednesday night's practice that the battle between Brohm and Flynn for the backup quarterback job is underway.

"I think Matt's definitely closing the gap, there's no doubt about it," McCarthy said. "I think he's really been pushing Brian here probably about the last eight to 10 days."

Asked if Flynn could conceivably beat out Brohm for the top backup job, general manager Ted Thompson said, "I don't know. Yeah, I suppose he can. Competition's all over this place. You never know how it's going to work out."

Although the Packers have used their 3-2-1 setup for distributing repetitions in practice -- three for Rodgers, two for Brohm, one for Flynn -- throughout camp and McCarthy said they will continue to do so, Flynn may merit some additional snaps after an encouraging performance in Monday night's 20-17 exhibition loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

While Brohm's first NFL pass was intercepted and he ended up completing eight of 17 passes for 70 yards and a 33.9 passer rating, Flynn went 12 for 21 for 97 yards and a touchdown for a 84.8 rating, highlighted by leading the Packers on a 62-yard, 12-play TD drive in the closing minutes of the game. Flynn had the Packers on the move on their final possession, too, but rookie Kregg Lumpkin fumbled after a completion to allow the Bengals to run out the clock.

"After the first (pass), I knew it could only get better," Brohm said. "Overall, I felt like I did a pretty good job of just the mechanics of the offense. Most of the time, I felt like I went to the right place with the ball. Obviously, there were a few times when I made mistakes, went to the wrong place, maybe forced one in there on the first play. But after that, I felt pretty good about the way things were going."

While Brohm admitted he "double-clutched" on a late throw to Ruvell Martin that led to Martin absorbing a wicked hit, the only other throw he made that raised eyebrows was his Hail Mary at the end of the half, a 50-yard heave that didn't make it to the goal line.

Flynn, meanwhile, wasn't particularly high on his performance -- "As a rookie, first game, it's kind of hard to put a grade on it," he said, adding that he sees more of his mistakes than successes when watching film -- and wasn't coming anywhere near a debate about the No. 2 job.

"That's not for me to say," Flynn said. "I'm just going to go out there and play as hard as I can and let the coaches make decisions. I really am here to do what helps the team the most. If that's third-string, then that's going to be my job and I'm going to do that position proudly. I'm going to play it and give it my best and let the coaches make decisions on everything else."

Thompson said he "thought there were some good things in there" for both quarterbacks, enough to solidify his stance that signing a veteran backup won't be necessary.

"You can never say never," Thompson said. "But right this second, we're comfortable with the fellas we have, albeit we're young."

Hawk lands on sideline: Here's something you don't see everyday (or never before, actually) -- A.J. Hawk not practicing.

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