It’s been said about a lot of things, “You never forget your first one”. For a professional football quarterback, it could apply to a first touchdown pass, interception or in the case of Jordan Love, the most unexpected and sudden start on his career at one of the most hostile environments in the league and against arguably the best player at his position.
After today’s practice, Love knew the questions would be coming, about that first start against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in November of 2021. Love was halfway through his second season with the Packers taking just a couple of mop-up snaps in games that counted and plenty of pre-season snaps under his belt.
The Packers were sailing along at 7-1 while the Chiefs were muddling about at 4-4. Just four days before the game, Aaron Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 and had to be quarantined under the pandemic rules in place. Love was under siege throughout the game but actually matched Mahomes touchdown for touchdown and even threw for more yards in a 13-7 loss. Now two years and three weeks later, Love has 11 more starts under his belt while Mahomes has a second Super Bowl ring and MVP trophies on his mantel.
While meeting reporters, Love made it pretty obvious he hasn’t forgotten his first one.
The Packers are crossing their fingers they’ll have a running back to hand off to. Both Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon didn’t practice today. Jones, 10 days removed from a sprained ACL won’t be ready and Dillon, dealing with nagging groin pull, is optimistic about Sunday night. The only other player who didn’t participate is rookie receiver Jayden Reed with a chest injury.
To make sure there were enough bodies to practice, the Packers have re-signed receiver Bo Melton and running back James Robinson to the practice squad.
With Luke Musgrave out (lacerated kidney) and Josiah Deguara (hip) just returning to practice, another tight end was signed to the practice squad on Tuesday. Joel Wilson is a rookie from Central Michigan who spent time with New Orleans in training camp and on the Buffalo Bills practice squad.
With pads on, the team put in about two hours of work with sunny temperatures in the mid-30’s.
A total of 15 players were on the first injury report of the week. Jones, Dillon and Reed were DNP, the limited participants were Jaire Alexander, Quay Walker, Kenny Clark, Deguara, Rudy Ford, Rashan Gary, Eric Stokes, Dontayvion Wicks and Robert Rochelle. Full participants were Keisean Nixon, Darnell Savage and Devonte Wyatt.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced it’s list of 25 semifinalists still under consideration to be a part of the Class of 2024. Two on the list had ties to the Packers. Julius Peppers (along with Antonio Gates) is a semifinalist in his first year of eligibility. Most of his career was with Carolina, a stint with Chicago and three very productive years with the Packers between 2014 and 2016. Peppers was named to the Pro Bowl while with Green Bay in 2015. Guard Jahri Evans also made the cut. A longtime member of the New Orleans Saints, Evans played in Green Bay in 2017.
Former Packer linebacker Jim Carter has passed away. He was a solid and sometimes controversial successor to the legendary Ray Nitschke as the Packers’ middle linebacker. The former University of Minnesota football and hockey star played 8 years in Green Bay (1970-75, 1977-’78). Carter bristled when asked if he thought he could fill Nitschke’s shoes but as it turned out, he could. He was one of the key defensive players on the 1972 NFC Central Division championship winning club and was named to the 1973 Pro Bowl team. Carter was 75.
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