Packers performances without Jordan Love can galvanize the roster for when the starting quarterback gets back
Jordan Love practiced, warmed up, and was a true game-time decision ahead of the Tennessee Titans game. He didn't play, but the Green Bay Packers won anyway, beating the Titans in Nashville with former Titan Malik Willis at quarterback. Two games without Love, two wins this season. It’s still unclear when and how Love will […]
Jordan Love practiced, warmed up, and was a true game-time decision ahead of the Tennessee Titans game. He didn't play, but the Green Bay Packers won anyway, beating the Titans in Nashville with former Titan Malik Willis at quarterback.
Two games without Love, two wins this season. It’s still unclear when and how Love will be back. There are strong challenges ahead, like there will next season against the up and coming 3-0 Minnesota Vikings. But this type of moment, players fighting together to overcome adversity, is what can build something special when Love is fully healthy.
“That can galvanize our team, and we needed everybody,” head coach Matt LaFleur said. “These guys prepared the right way, worked the right way each and every day, with a great attitude.”
Getting two consecutive wins with a backup quarterback who had been acquired weeks before is not an easy feat. And it didn’t happen without hurdles. After the game, LaFleur revealed that Thursday’s practice was rough for the offense, but it served a purpose.
“We had some tough practices, and quite frankly they haven’t all been pretty,” LaFleur added. “Thursday practice was probably one of the worst we’ve had in my time here. As long as you’re learning from it, you can take a negative and make it a positive. You’ve got the get mistakes corrected.”
Locker room
The team embracing what would mean playing with Malik Willis at quarterback is part of the attitude the Packers need from the entire roster. A good example of that was how the offense wanted to prove the Titans wrong.
Willis had said during the week he didn’t see it as a revenge game. But it doesn’t mean that wasn’t a motivating factor for other players.
"I was talking to other wideouts earlier in the game. I don't care if he doesn’t think it’s a revenge game, I’m going out there and playing for him,” wide receiver Christian Watson said. “I want him to be able to go out there and win this thing."
The Green Bay Packers are now 2-1. Next week, the challenge comes against a strong team in the Minnesota Vikings, with Sam Darnold playing the best football of his life, and a great coaching staff with head coach Kevin O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Either way, what the Packers are building is important not only for now, not only for when Jordan Love is still less than 100%. It matters for the entire run, and the Packers have the pieces to make it a deep one.
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