GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) 鈥� Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love says he doesn’t mind playing at least a little in the preseason, even though a thumb injury in an exhibition game last year caused him to miss part of training camp.
Love expects to play in the Packers鈥� first preseason game Thursday at Pittsburgh. He has played in Green Bay鈥檚 preseason opener each of his three previous seasons as a starter and injured his left (non-throwing) thumb in an exhibition game last year with the He ended up and six days later.
鈥淥bviously what happened last year sucked,鈥� Love said Tuesday. 鈥淚t was very tough. I鈥檓 glad that was what it was, and I was able to be good for Week One. But yeah, it鈥檚 definitely one of those things you got to take into consideration going into preseason and everything. Me and (coach) Matt (LaFleur) have talked, and I think the plan is to play some limited role this week and see how it goes going forward.鈥�
Love acknowledges he does play differently in the preseason as compared to the regular season.
鈥淭he main thing is to stay healthy, obviously,鈥� Love said. 鈥淎void taking hits. If you get into a scramble situation, definitely not take any hits outside the pocket, anything like that. But really, it鈥檚 just about being smart, trying to get the ball to your hand, find those completions, put together a good drive.鈥�
LaFleur said the plan 鈥渁s of right now鈥� is for Love to play, though the coach added that 鈥淚 always have the right to change my mind.鈥�
Love doesn鈥檛 expect to play more than one or two series, depending on how that opening possession goes.
LaFleur believes his teams have fared better early in the season in years when his regulars had at least some playing time during the preseason. Love agrees he has benefited from at least making brief exhibition appearances.
鈥淚 think it gets you in the right mindset and just gets you back in that real game feel,鈥� Love said.
Green Bay鈥檚 preseason opener at Pittsburgh will allow Love and LaFleur to reconnect with former Packers quarterback who has made no secret regarding his lack of interest in playing preseason games at this stage of his career.
That reunion comes after LaFleur gained attention on social media regarding comments he made regarding the two quarterbacks in an Monday.
When he was asked about how well Love works at the line of scrimmage before snaps in getting the offense ready, LaFleur replied that 鈥渉e鈥檚 got to be the best I鈥檝e been around in terms of protections and adjustments.鈥� After being reminded that he also had coached Rodgers, LaFleur didn鈥檛 back down from his comments and quipped that 鈥淎aron鈥檚 going to get mad about this.鈥�
LaFleur was asked again Tuesday to compare the way the two quarterbacks adjusted protections at the line of scrimmage.
鈥淎aron was phenomenal, too, don鈥檛 get me wrong,鈥� LaFleur said. 鈥淎nd I think Jordan really benefited from watching him and how he operated and how quickly he could process things. But I do think our offense has evolved over time, too.鈥�
Love said he hadn鈥檛 seen LaFleur鈥檚 comments but had been made aware of them. He said that part of his game was 鈥減robably the biggest jump鈥� he鈥檚 made since the arrived from Utah State.
鈥淚n college, we didn鈥檛 do anything 鈥� we didn鈥檛 handle protections,鈥� Love said. 鈥淲e just threw hot. If we got pressure, we didn鈥檛 make any changes to the line of scrimmage. So getting into the NFL, that was the biggest test for me and the biggest area where I just had never done stuff like that.
鈥淪o obviously, I think being able to sit behind Aaron and see just the way he was able to control the line of scrimmage, see pressures, make protection adjustments, and pick stuff up was next level, and it gave me something to build up and to see, and be like, 鈥楳an, that鈥檚 what I want to be able to do.鈥�”
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