Jordan Love: Optimism in the Packers’ Quarterback Despite Injury
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, although still using a protector on his left thumb, which was recently operated on, and continues to pass the ball mainly with his right hand, is optimistic about his performance at the start of the regular season. Love stated he has “no concerns” heading into the first game against the Detroit Lions, scheduled for September 7th. However, he will need to protect his thumb with a protector similar to the one he has used in training.Coach Matt LaFleur led the Packers in a mock game on Thursday, the closest simulation to real action that Love has had. The player only began participating in full team periods (11-on-11) one day prior. Previously, he did not take snaps from center or in the shotgun formation, but rather simply held the ball or picked it up to simulate the snap, limiting himself to individual drills and 7-on-7. After Thursday’s practice, Love explained why he chose to have surgery instead of playing through the injury.“I will have to use the protector for a few weeks and keep it protected. We will see, as I play and feel how it goes, when returning to real contact. But I will have to use that protector for a while,” Love stated.
Jordan Love
This week also marked the return of receivers Jayden Reed (foot) and Dontayvion Wicks (calf) after injuries suffered at the start of training camp. However, because teams don’t have to issue injury and participation reports until next week, it’s unclear how much they participated in practice. “Between our receivers and him being a little banged up, we certainly haven’t had the amount of work we would have liked,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst commented. “But there’s a lot of confidence in him to be ready to play in Week 1.” The only starter who didn’t practice on Thursday was cornerback Nate Hobbs, who underwent knee surgery on August 2. Hobbs was initially expected to be back for the season opener. “I feel good about my recovery, and we’ll see how I feel next week,” Hobbs said.“If you don’t have stability, you don’t have strength either. It was practically a loose thumb. I couldn’t do much with it and didn’t want to deal with that during the season. Who knows if it would have kept getting injured, getting worse, and what would it have been like throughout the season? So I think, and the doctors’ opinion was, that it was better to have surgery and try to be 100% for the season,” Love explained.
Jordan Love
