Is “character building” a thing? Do we just grow, develop confidence, courage and even a little swagger no matter we’re succeeding or failing? Maybe it’s best to leave deep questions like that to Socrates or Colin Cowherd.
If it is, indeed, a thing, then Sunday’s exciting comeback win over the Saints built a lot of character in the Green Bay Packers locker room.
Defensive coordinator Joe Barry gets savaged by fans and on social media daily. And yet, he coordinated a defense that gave up 10-points missing Jaire Alexander, while also losing his back-up, and linebacker De’Vondre Campbell. I’m no Joe Barry fan, and the Saints offense looks nothing like the Miami Dolphins. No matter, holding any NFL offense to 10 points is plenty good.
The Packers collection of “green as grass”, barely legal, pass receivers dropped passes all over the field for 3-quarters. Then, in the 4th quarter they played like a bunch of savvy veterans pulling down one big catch after another. Jayden Reed lays out for a beautiful 30 yarder down the sideline, Romeo Doubs snatches a back shoulder touchdown for the tie followed by Samori Toure grabbing a “think fast” laser from Jordan Love for the 2-point conversion.
Patient, creative play-calling
Coach Matt LaFleur, was subtly underrated while winning 39-games in his first three-seasons as coach as someone just riding the coattails of Aaron Rodgers. Playing the home opener against a very good Saints defense, missing four of his best offensive players, the offensive mastermind kept throwing plays against the wall. A flea flicker early, an end-around to his slot-corner kick returner, and fade after fade after yet another missed fade, the coach kept on digging into his bag of tricks until he found the right toy.
Then, there was first time starting QB Jordan Love. For 3 quarters his accuracy was not good, his long ball was too long, or off just enough. Early in the game he couldn’t even get it right with his cleats, slipping on the flea flicker/pass back that could have been a 30-40 yard gain. We don’t know if his 4th down miss to Emanuel Wilson was his fault, but it felt like a Wayne Larrivee “dagger” to the Packers chances to win.
Crunch-time
For most of the final 15 minutes Love seemed to channel his inner Joe Montana, Aaron Rodgers and John Elway. He simply made play after play. You could feel his teammates and the fans rallying around him.
The aforementioned Colin Cowherd and a small segment of Packer fans predicted Jordan Love would be a bust. With so little evidence, I’m amazed when people say things quite that stupid. Cowherd saying stupid things is not surprising at all, it’s a matter of seeing his lips moving.
At this point, Love has plenty to improve upon, like his overall accuracy and particularly his long-ball but with training camp and 3-games under his belt, we’ve seen enough to say this guy is not, NOT, a bust. With practice and more character building, he may be a franchise QB.
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