We’re talking about practice. He’s now the Franchise player, and we’re sitting here, talking about practice. As famous as that reference to Allen Iverson’s 2002 rant was, and how true it is sometimes to go a little overboard about practice, I’m not listening. Jordan Love’s return to practice on Saturday was a big deal for the growth of this football team and helped turn up the competition between the offense and defense.
In the event you’re waking up from a week-long slumber, I’ll catch you up. To start Training Camp, Jordan Love was in the building, apparently doing everything as he would normally do, except for practicing. This was a decision from his agency to not risk injury while negotiating a new contract. As much as I may not have liked the idea, it was a smart decision on their part. Love was about to become a very rich man. If he hit the practice field and tore his ACL, that would’ve been the end of negotiations. The Packers have some contract insurance when players are hurt but Love would not have had anything. As a result, backup QBs Sean Clifford, Michael Pratt, and newly signed QB, Jacob Eason were running the show. And, it was not pretty at all. Clifford was a turnover machine and Pratt and Eason didn’t show much to write home about. So, the defense has absolutely dominated training camp up until Saturday. But that all changed once Love signed his new four-year $220M contract.
There may have been a little rust to shake out at the beginning of practice where Love over-shot Dontayvion Wicks on a play where he was wide open. He also threw behind Christian Watson on another play and threw wide of Wicks on another attempted connection. Love was also picked off by Quay Walker on what was a bit of a broken tight-end screen play. Love was under pressure quickly and he just kind of lofted the ball in the area of Luke Musgrave. Musgrave wasn’t ready for it, and Quay Walker made a diving catch for the INT.
But after that, Love showed why the Packers are paying him the big bucks. Love hit Christian Watson on a 47-yard bomb over Eric Stokes which was just a thing of beauty. Stokes reportedly had good coverage but Watson is just that much faster and got away from Stokes when Jordan Love dropped the ball right over Watson’s shoulder. Watson later said about this play that he couldn’t ask for a better ball, it was just a dot, all he had to do was run straight and the ball just kind of dropped into his hands. Love capped off that drive by hitting Romeo Doubs on a 10-yard out-route right at the pylon. It was the type of catch Doubs has become notorious for making and the ball placement by Jordan Love was in a place where only Doubs could touch it.
In the end, for the first time in the 2024 Training Camp, the Packers’ Defense was the one doing push-ups.
Iron Sharpens Iron
The term, “iron sharpens iron” has been a favorite of mine for years when describing competition in Packers’ practice. Charles Woodson once said that facing Brett Favre in practice every day helped raise his competitive spirit. Many Packers receivers said facing Charles Woodson in practice made them better. Davante Adams and Jaire Alexander would say their battles in practice made each other better. When you get good players lining up against each other day in and day out, they’re going to get competitive, and tempers are going to flare, but in the end, they’re all going to be better from the experience. Iron sharpens iron.
The first four practices of training camp, with all due respect to Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt, have not been competitive. Clifford threw seven total interceptions in just two practices to start the week. My article released Wednesday talked about how Javon Bullard and Evan Williams were getting reps with the first-team defense and how that was a rarity for the Packers to see rookies running with the 1s to start camp. I stated then, that this could be attributed to coaches getting them some time with the starters to see how they do since Jordan Love isn’t on the field yet. The more experienced, true QB1 might pick them apart in practice to start camp, but the backups may not. If so, this shows a big lack of competition in camp.
The defense was not only feasting on interceptions in practice until Saturday, but they were also enjoying racking up the sacks. As of Saturday though, the tone was a bit different. Jordan Love is a little more capable of rolling out and escaping a collapsed pocket and locating his targets. So, the defense now has to work a bit harder if they want to be celebrating sacks again so often.
This Packers team again may be young, but they are very competitive and unlike last year, the expectations are high for how far they can get. These next few weeks of training camp are going to be fun watching how the offense and defense build off one another. Tempers will flare, and we may see Rashan Gary yelling at Matt LaFleur again, but it’s all in the competitive spirit. As long as they’re not hurting each other or getting in fistfights, we want those minor scuffles. We want this team to push one another and set the tone to start the season much better than we did last year. I want to see Jordan Love hitting Christian Watson deep for a touchdown. But then I want to see Jaire Alexander jump a route and take a Jordan Love pass to the house. This is practice, you learn in practice and it gets you ready for when it’s you and your team vs the rest of the league. I can’t wait to continue watching it all unfold to create another great Packers team.
Source: Love Returns in Time to Turn Up Practice Competition
