The Green Bay Packers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 36-19 in their first preseason game of the year on Friday night. The game saw the Packers’ new starting quarterback, Jordan Love, play the first two series. He completed seven of his ten pass attempts for 46 yards and a touchdown.
Related: Green Bay Packers: 5 Highest and 5 Lowest PFF Grades on Offense from 36-19 Victory Over Bengals
Fifth round draft pick Sean Clifford played the majority of the rest of the game at quarterback, with USFL MVP Alex McGough only taking a few snaps. Clifford completed 20 of 26 passes for 208 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
After the game, both Love and head coach Matt LaFleur were asked if the 2020 first round NFL Draft pick would see even more playing time in the team’s next two preseason games. Both thought that was a pretty good possibility.
Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love Think More Playing Time Would Be Valuable
When asked about how he felt about his playing time against the Bengals, Love stated:
“I think it’s valuable to get some reps. I’m not sure how many is valuable. But I had fun in there tonight. Two series, I think it was a great time, getting back, getting a feel for the game.”
As mentioned, Love only played for the Packers’ first two series. It would seem that he wants to play even more. One has to admire his desire to play more in the preseason, but at the same time, the Packers have taken an enormous gamble moving on from four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers in favor of the young 24-year old. They also cannot risk him getting hurt.
Of Love playing more, LaFleur said,
“I would anticipate him playing some more, as well. Whether that’s next week or whether that’s versus Seattle, we’ll kind of see how the week goes, see how practices are going. We’ve got two big practices coming up against New England that are going to be really good for him, and we’re just going to play it by ear.”
Green Bay is in an interesting situation in that they do not want their starters to get injured, but at the same time, their starters are so young and inexperienced that they want them to get all the reps and experience they can before the regular season begins.
It is a tricky balance. The two joint practices against the Patriots will extremely valuable in this manner. It could be that Love plays about the same amount in the preseason game against New England as he did in Cincinnati due to those.
In any case, it sounds like Packers fans will get even more glimpses of what the offense will look like with Love under center within the next two weeks.
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