Malik Willis receives well-deserved praise for playing a big role for the Packers once again
It's getting difficult to argue that Malik Willis is one of the best backup quarterbacks of the season in the NFL. With him starting, the Green Bay Packers beat the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans while Jordan Love was recovering from a knee injury. On Sunday, Love suffered a groin injury, and Willis got […]
It's getting difficult to argue that Malik Willis is one of the best backup quarterbacks of the season in the NFL. With him starting, the Green Bay Packers beat the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans while Jordan Love was recovering from a knee injury. On Sunday, Love suffered a groin injury, and Willis got in to help the Packers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 30-27.
Obviously, the Packers play a different version of the offense with Willis on field. Against the Jaguars, he threw only five times, while Love had had 22 attempts in the first half. But Willis was efficient, completing four passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. And more than that, he adds an important running element to the offense.
With Willis on the field, the Packers scored 17 points of the 30 they had in the game. It was two solid drives, one full of run plays ending with a Josh Jacobs 38-yard touchdown, and another one with a bomb to Jayden Reed that ended with the game-winning field goal. Willis also had a touchdown pass taking advantage of a turnover forced by the defense at the five-yard line.
"I can't say enough good things about Malik Willis, the job that he's able to do to go win there," Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said. "The moment is never too big for him. He made a lot of big-time plays in this game. Not only with his arm, but with his ability to have a big pickup with his legs."
And all of it happened without first-team reps. During the week, the backup quarterback only practices with the scout team. This means he mimics the opposing offense and doesn't run what the Packers plan is.
"It's none," Willis said when asked how many reps he had had over the week. "The starter needs all the reps, and you get your reps on scout, and you do what you can to use those mental reps to do whatever you can to be ready if called upon."
Big play, big moment
When the Jaguars tied the game, the Packers had a little more than two minutes to get into field goal range and avoid overtime. The deciding factor was a big pass from Willis to Jayden Reed down the sideline.
It was actually a can play, which means Willis changed the call at the line of scrimmage after seeing a favorable look.
"Not only was that a can play, but it was a play that we didn't even have in the gameplan," LaFleur revealed. "We talked about it on Tuesday, we thought there might be something there, decided against it, and we ran the keeper earlier in the game. (Passing game coordinator Jason) Vrable suggested, "Hey, it looks like the play is there", so we put it in on the sidelines. So no reps in practice, that's a big-time credit to our guys to be able to go out there and execute it. Jayden Reed, Tucker (Kraft), the o-line, the backs, everybody selling it. Ultimately, Malik making the throw. That was a pretty cool one, probably one that I'll never forget."
For Willis, it was just executing the plan.
"We were looking for a certain look. We didn't get it the first time, we ran it twice," Willis recalled. "We ran the first play, and we ran it again, and got the look that we were looking for. We just can right into it, it was perfect, you love to see it."
So far this season, Malik Willis has completed 74.4% of his passes for 380 yards, three touchdowns passes, a 130.3 passer rating, plus a rushing touchdown.
‘High level of concern’: Packers HC Matt LaFleur talks about Jordan Love’s injury in win over the Jaguars
Quarterback got injured on the Packers’ first offensive drive
