If all goes well for the Green Bay Packers this season, they won’t see Jordan Love play any significant football.
But the question now is whether they saw enough to feel good about him as a quarterback in 2022 if that’s really Aaron Rodgers ’end in Green Bay.
Love played the third quarter of Saturday’s preseason finale: a 19-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills to end an undefeated preseason in which Rodgers and most of the starters didn’t fall down, but they didn’t manage to lead an annotation. That after directing just one touchdown touchdown in his preseason debut two weeks earlier against the Houston Texans. (He missed the mid-season game because of what he revealed Saturday was a tight-fitting rotation cuff on his right shoulder.)
“I think for the most part he’s done a good job,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said after Saturday’s game. “They’re definitely learning moments and I think you have to experience them and go through those that are in a game environment to really learn from them, so I’m sure you’ll learn from those mistakes and I hope you don’t repeat. “
The most glaring mistake came in the second quarter after he led the Packers to the Bills ’21-yard line. In the first down, Love stumbled with a throw to his right, was pressed and threw a ball into the end zone which removed Micah Hyde’s safety.
“It’s one I have to learn, obviously, and I just have to put it aside and play the next play,” Love said.
Love finished 12-on-18 for 149 yards and the lone interception, while playing primarily against the Bills ’initial defense.
“I just told him you can never risk it like that unless it’s the fourth down and the game is on the line, so I’m sure you can throw one,” LaFleur said. “But we never want to take points off the board and those, the interception and then the one at the end of the half, surely could have taken points off the board.”
Love also had many good times: an initial unit that reached the 1-yard line of the Bills but ended in a failed fourth and goal play and another unit that ended with a field goal. of 28 yards wrong. . Along the way, he hit Reggie Begelton for a 28-yard action pass and completed a 27-yard shoulder fade to Malik Taylor (who could have finished one spot on the list with a five-yard touchdown run). and 69 yards).
Love, the Packers ’first-round pick in 2020, who spent the entire offseason making front-line reps while Rodgers stayed away during his team dispute, finished his first two preseason games with a combined statistical line of 24 to 35 for 271 yards with a touchdown and an interception for a pass rating of 89.1.
Given Love’s rookie preseason, she was wiped out by COVID-19 protocols last year and spent the entire year as an inactive No. 3 quarterback, these two games could be her only job before the Packers they have to decide next low season if he’s ready to replace Rodgers, whether it’s Rodgers ’decision to move on or his.
The Packers have yet to decide whether to keep Kurt Benkert as their third quarterback, but Love’s role – for now – is clear.
“I’ll be the Green Bay Packers quarterback, I’ll support Aaron Rodgers as best I can and help him,” Love said. “He’s going to go out and do great things this season. I’ll just try to do everything I can to prepare him for the season, prepare him every week and do my job. Viouslybviament, being a backup, you still have to be ready. Even if it’s number 3, you have to be prepared every day in our position, so keep doing what I’m doing. ”