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Yes, the Green Bay Packers want Jordan Love to be in the starting lineup Sunday, even though Malik Willis has held up nicely in a backup role. And the Packers doubled their good news Thursday as Love and Josh Jacobs returned to practice ahead of a pivotal division contest against the Lions, according to a post on X by Wes Hodkeiwicz.
“QB Jordan Love (groin) returned for Thursday’s padded practice in the rain. Also back were RB Josh Jacobs (ankle), T Rasheed Walker (knee) & G Elgton Jenkins (glute).”
Love didn’t practice Wednesday, but remained confident he would have a good chance to play. Getting him in the lineup is crucial as the Packers will likely have to put up points to handle the offensive juggernaut Lions.
Packers head coach Matt LaFluer certainly has respect for the Lions, according to detroitlions.com.
“They are one of the most explosive offenses in the league,” LaFleur said. “I think Ben Johnson does an unbelievable job of putting guys in position. They have one of the best offensive lines in all of football.
“I think Jared Goff is playing as good as anyone and they have weapons all around him, whether it’s Amon-Ra (St. Brown) or (Sam) LaPorta, two great backs, Jameson Williams, they have a lot of guys — Kalif Raymond. They just have a lot of guys on their offense. Good scheme plus players usually equals some pretty good results.”
Love had connected on 124 of 201 passes (62%) for 1,547 yards. He has started six Packers’ games despite various injuries, including the groin setback that cost him part of the 30-27 win over the Jaguars on Sunday.
Getting Jacobs back is a big deal, too. The Packers’ veteran runner is coming off a 127-yard, two-touchdown effort against the Jaguars.
The Lions haven’t been able to put the same amount of pressure on quarterbacks since the season-ending injury to edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson. He has missed the last two games but still ranks third in the NFL in sacks and first in quarterback hits. The Lions had just one sack in their 52-14 win over the Titans last week.
Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell said he would like to see his team get pressure on the Packers’ Love, according to Sports Illustrated.
“There’s other ways of creating pressure and would you like a little more? Yeah, we’d like a little bit more,” Campbell said. “I wouldn’t say we’re in panic mode.”
“Doesn’t matter what your record is. It’s about, how do you cover up some of your deficiencies? That’s the name of the game. We talk about Hutch. We’re not going to be able to replace Hutch. But there’s other things that we can do. You put a bigger burden on your backend, is what you’ve got to do. And we’ve done that, and they’ve risen to the challenge.”
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