Packers preseason insider: Jordan Love has his moments after costly start to game
GREEN BAY − Saturday’s takeaways from the Packers’ 21-17 loss to the New England Patriots in a suspended preseason game at Lambeau Field:
Josh Myers' quick snap leads to early fumble
Jordan Love put up in another capable performance (137.5 rating and a touchdown in three possessions), but the Packers No. 1 offense also had the kind of disastrous turnover that can cost a game in the regular season.
On the Packers first possession, center Josh Myers fired a shotgun snap when Love wasn’t looking, and the ball sailed past the quarterback’s head and eventually was recovered by New England at the Packers 18.
The mistake was Myers' fault. The Packers centers are taught to snap the ball if they see a defensive lineman enter the neutral zone so the Packers will get a free play. In fact, the Packers did that to get a couple of free plays in their joint practices with the Patriots last week.
But on this one, the Patriots didn’t cross into the neutral zone, so Myers should not have snapped the ball. Love was looking at the defense and wasn’t able to react quickly enough to catch the ball.
“One of their D-lineman flinched but didn’t go into the neutral zone,” coach Matt LaFleur said after the game.
Said Love: “It was what we call a double cadence and after the first cadence it looked like the D-end on the right side might have jumped, and that’s kind of what Josh saw and felt, and that’s why he snapped it right there. My eyes weren’t ready, weren’t on the snap at that point, and obviously went back behind me. Something we never want to happen, and I wasn’t able to get the ball back right there. It was just kind of miscommunication thinking we got a free play with them jumping offsides. I’d have to back and see if the guy was offsides or he wasn’t. The ref said he wasn’t.”
Jordan Love bounces back to have a solid night
Love’s second drive ended early when, on a third-and-5, he threw a tick late to Jayden Reed on an out route, which allowed cornerback Marcus Bryant to break up the pass.
And then Love led the Packers on a 96-yard touchdown drive on his final possession, which was enough to end his night. That drive included hitting the kind of deep shot that’s been elusive in training camp so far because of Love overthrows.
On a second down from his own 8, Love threw a go route to Romeo Doubs down the sideline. Doubs made a tough catch right against the sideline against cornerback Isaiah Bolden, but the official there ruled Doubs didn’t get both feet in-bounds. LaFleur challenged the call, and the replay showed Doubs did get both feet down for a 42-yard completion.
“Something we’ve talked pretty open about, just trying to give your guys an opportunity to go make that play,” LaFleur said of Love’s throw. “I thought he put good air under the ball and Rome made the play.”
Said Love: “That ball was where I wanted it. When it came out of my hand, I thought it might be a little underthrown, but it was able to get right where I wanted it.”
The drive also included a Love scramble that ended with a slide, a late hit by defensive lineman Sam Roberts, and subsequent scrum when right tackle Zach Tom took on Roberts for hitting his quarterback.
“For me to feel that those guys have my back, it’s awesome,” Love said of his offensive line. “I feel that already, but to see it – you love to see that, and I appreciate those guys stepping in and having my back right there. I think it does build some community, camaraderie. Obviously going back to practice (against the Patriots), some of the incidents that happened in practice, you love to see guys having each other’s back and fighting for each other, just not letting any of that kind of stuff slide.”
Love’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Reed near the left pylon was one of his good throws of camp. He hit Reed in stride with cornerback Shaun Wade right on his hip in man coverage.
“It was man coverage, sticky coverage, but (Reed) won inside,” Love said. “He was pretty much just running away from the DB and there was a backer that was kind of out in front of him. So I just held onto it for a little bit and let him just continue to run through that second window.”
Emanuel Wilson making run at running back roster spot
Undrafted rookie Emanuel Wilson is in the running for the No. 3 running back job while Tyler Goodson and Lew Nichols continue to miss time because of shoulder injuries.
Wilson entered the game ahead of Patrick Taylor as the first running back off the bench after Love and the No. 1 offense left the game. Wilson ran for 63 yards on 15 carries (4.2-yard average).
It’s unclear whether Goodson and Nichols will be ready for the regular-season opener in three weeks, so the No. 3 job appears to be wide open with only a week left in the preseason. Those two along with Wilson and Taylor are the main competitors for probably one or two roster spots behind Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon.
Wilson, who displayed burst and long speed on an 80-yard touchdown last week against Cincinnati, showed some explosiveness when he had running room, such as when he picked up 23 yards combined on his first two carries. But he also was tackled in the open field by the Patriots first-round draft pick, cornerback Christian Gonzalez, after a 4-yard gain.
“I thought Wilson ran really hard,” LaFleur said. “He ran with really good power, ran through some arm tackles, ran with low pad level. I thought he had an outstanding day. This was two games in a row. Excited for him. There’s a lot of things he needs to continue to improve upon, and I think like most young backs pass protection is one of those, as well as just getting in better football shape. He’s gotten a taste of what it’s like to be an every-down back, especially in this game, and there were moments I could tell he was pretty gassed.”
Two weeks ago, Wilson was an afterthought for making the team. He now has a real shot at a spot on the 53-man roster or, if not that, the practice squad.
Injury update
Did not suit up: CB Jaire Alexander (healthy scratch), T David Bakhtiari (knee management), DL Kenny Clark (back), ILB De’Vondre Campbell (ankle), OLB Rashan Gary (knee recovery), RB Tyler Goodson (shoulder), T Caleb Jones (ankle), T Luke Tenuta (ankle), TE Tyler Davis (torn ACL), RB Lew Nichols (shoulder), CB Corey Ballentine (shoulder/neck stinger), S Innis Gaines (quad), WR Bo Melton (hamstring).
Physically-unable-to-perform list: CB Eric Stokes (foot).
Bits and pieces
- Rookie quarterback Sean Clifford showed some moxie with a good hurry-up offense possession at the end of the first half. He got the ball at his 9 with only 51 seconds and three timeouts left, and he managed to get into scoring position by completing three of five passes, including and 18-yarder to Malik Heath. That set up Anders Carlson for a 52-yard field goal with 1 second left in the half. Clifford finished with an 89.1 rating (11-for-19, 137 yards, no touchdowns or sacks).
- Carlson made all his kicks Saturday by hitting both extra points as well as the 52-yard field goal.
- Second-year pro Rasheed Walker started ahead of Yosh Nijman at left tackle in place of David Bakhtiari, who was held out as part of the plan to manage his chronic knee issues. Nijman played right tackle with the No. 2 offense. “Rasheed had a really good week of practice and we wanted to see him,” LaFleur said. “I talked to coach (Bill) Belichick throughout the course of the week and had a pretty good indication they were going to play their (starters) and wanted to see how see how (Walker) would respond to that situation.”
- Four Packers players left the game with injuries: Fullback/tight end Henry Pearson (knee), safety Tarvarius Moore (knee), center Jake Hanson (shin) and receiver Dontayvion Wicks (hamstring).
- Just as he did last week against Cincinnati, halfback Aaron Jones played the game’s first snap, touched the ball (on a run), then was done for the night.
More: From David Bakhtiari to Anders Carlson, six takeaways from Packers GM Brian Gutekunst
More: Six takeaways from Packers coordinators, including comments on Keisean Nixon and Tariq Carpenter
Quote of the day
LaFleur on whether he might schedule only one joint practice per team next year after the excessive fighting between the Packers and Patriots on Day 2 of their joint sessions: “We’ve got a long time to kind of mull that over. I see some benefit in only having one. I thought we had some really good work with Cincinnati when we did that. We’ve had two practices with teams in the past and haven’t had (issues), like when the Jets were here we didn’t have any problems, I don’t believe we had many problems last year with New Orleans. So I think you can. It’s all circumstantial and the situation. We’ll have plenty of time to think about that moving forward.”