There were more than a few takeaways from the Green Bay Packers’ preseason win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday night. The Packers looked good in their first game of the preseason as they took down the Bengals, 36-19 in a very promising performance.
One of the highlights of the evening was Jordan Love, who turned in an eye-opening performance to kick off the post-Aaron Rodgers era in Green Bay. However, it wasn’t just Love who turned heads on Friday. Backup quarterback Sean Clifford also had a (relatively) good day, which prompted some high praise from head coach Matt LaFleur.
Green Bay Packers Coach Sean LeFleur Impressed by Sean Clifford’s Debut
After the win, LaFleur was asked about Clifford’s playing time. The former Penn State QB stayed in the game in spite of his early mishaps, which did not seem to bother LaFleur at all:
“I think that he’s a young player. He needs to play,” LaFleur said. “That was the intent going in, I didn’t know how long (he would play). A lot of times, with the quarterbacks, it’s kind of a feel thing — when to pull somebody and put the other guy in.”
The Packers shot-caller then delved deeper into Clifford’s earlier error, which included two costly interceptions. For his part, however, LaFleur opted to focus on the silver lining as he explained why he was happy to see his young quarterback’s reaction to his mistakes:
“I do love the fact that he had to battle through some adversity,” LaFleur continued. “Throwing the two picks and then coming back and lead us on the two-minute drive. So I thought just to see him not be fazed by those situations, I thought it showed something that — you can’t coach that. You can talk about it all you want, but that is intrinsic and he possesses that. I’m just happy that he was able to battle through that and overcome it.”
Obviously, Matt LaFleur would have been singing a much different tune if Clifford did not bounce back later in the game. However, the fact that LaFleur gave the 25-year-old the opportunity to redeem himself speaks volumes of how much confidence he has in his backup QB.
For More Wisconsin Sports:
Follow me on Twitter at @PaoloSongcoNBA, and follow us @WiSportsHeroics. Also, check out our Merchandise Here! Get 20% off with the code “WSH.” You can also reach out to Paolo Songco via email at pao.songco@gmail.com. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in ALL of Wisconsin sports, click here! Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks, Wisconsin Badgers.
