QB Jordan Love practices with Packers as he continues recovery from knee injury

 

[September 19, 2024]  By STEVE MEGARGEE

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love is practicing again for the first time since injuring his left medial collateral ligament, but the team remained circumspect about his chances of playing Sunday at Tennessee.

Love worked out on a limited basis Wednesday, and the Packers weren't providing details on how much he did. When he was asked on multiple occasions on Love's workload, coach Matt LaFleur simply repeated that “he was limited.”

“I’m going to take the week and just take it day by day and see how it feels, but I’m not going to make any decision on that right now,” Love said. “I’m hopeful that I’ll get to that point where I can get in there, but we’re just going to take it day by day and see.”

Love hadn’t practiced at all last week and didn’t play Sunday in a 16-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, which marked the first game he had missed since taking over as Green Bay’s starting quarterback last season.

He hurt his knee on the third-to-last play of the Packers’ season-opening 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 in Brazil. Love was being pressured by Jalen Carter and Josh Sweat as he threw a backward pass to Josh Jacobs. Carter was lying down and had a hold of Love’s left leg when Sweat pushed the quarterback to the ground.

"I was telling people it’s the most pain I’ve been in,” Love said. “So, you know, just a lot of emotions, but definitely very painful and didn’t know in the moment what might have happened, what the injury actually was, how long I might be out."

Love acknowledged feeling concerned about the severity of his injury on the flight back to the United States.

“I tore a meniscus (in his right knee) in college, but I've never had an ACL (tear) or anything like that, so I didn't know what that felt like, didn't know what that might be,” Love said. “A lot of thoughts went through my head, for sure.”

Little did he know at the time he'd be practicing again less than two weeks later.

“You can see that he feels more comfortable just moving around the building, the way he was out there today," backup quarterback Malik Willis said.

One of the challenges facing Love is the likelihood that he will be playing with a brace on his knee. Love noted that he's done it before, when he had the meniscus injury during his college career at Utah State.

“It’s a piece of metal on your knee, so (you're) definitely not as fast, but it’s one of those things that you just got to adjust,” Love said. “It’s going to help protect me and keep me stable in everything I do, so might change my game a little bit, but at the end of the day, I’m not a receiver that has to run all these crazy routes downfield, things like that."

Injured Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, left, stans with his temamtes for the Natioanl Anthem before the start of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

If Love isn’t able to play Sunday, Willis would take the field to face his former team. The Packers acquired Willis from Tennessee (0-2) for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick in a trade that was announced Aug. 27.

“We have to prepare to go play the Packers offense, whether it’s with Malik or with Jordan,” Titans coach Brian Callahan said. “Schematically, it varies a little bit, but at the end of the day, we have to do our jobs well. We have to execute, be fundamentally sound, and if you spend too much time worrying about that part of it, you lose track of what we need to be for our identity and our defense.”

Willis went 12 of 14 for 122 yards with his first career touchdown pass and no turnovers against Indianapolis while also running for 41 yards on six carries as the Packers used a run-heavy approach in Love’s absence.

The Packers ran 53 times for 261 yards, getting their highest output in rushing yards since 2003 and their largest total in carries since 1978.

“I think what we did last week gives everybody more confidence going forward if I’m not cleared this week,” Love said. “So I love that. I love that we got the ‘W’ and it’s a big confidence boost moving forward into this next week.”

NOTES: OL Elgton Jenkins (illness/glute), OL Jordan Morgan (shoulder), WR Jayden Reed (calf) and CB Carrington Valentine (ankle) didn't practice Wednesday. Love, DL Kenny Clark (toe), DL Kingsley Enagbare (groin), RB Josh Jacobs (back), TE Tucker Kraft (shoulder), C Josh Myers (ankle), OT Zach Tom (quadriceps) and OT Rasheed Walker (shoulder) practiced on a limited basis. ... The Packers signed WR Cornelius Johnson to their practice squad. The Los Angeles Chargers had selected Johnson out of Michigan in the seventh round of this year's draft.
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AP Pro Football Writer Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report.

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