Love Throws Touchdown Pass, Made Believers of Bengals

Jordan Love impressed the Cincinnati Bengals at Wednesday's joint practice and he did it again during a strong start for the Green Bay Packers on Friday.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Even before Jordan Love made his preseason debut on Friday night, the Cincinnati Bengals saw plenty they liked from the Green Bay Packers’ new starting quarterback.

A strong practice on Wednesday continued into Friday's preseason opener. Love went 7-of-10 for 46 yards and one touchdown in two series before giving way to Sean Clifford. On Green Bay’s scoring drive, Love went 5-of-6, the final completion a splendid touchdown to Romeo Doubs in which Love showed some deft touch to beat cornerback Sidney Jones.

Unlike the game, Love went up against the Bengals’ starters during Wednesday’s joint practice. He had a decent day that would have looked much better from a numbers perspective had Doubs not dropped a perfectly thrown deep ball in a 2-minute drill.

“I think his timing was good,” linebacker Germaine Pratt said. “He threw some accurate balls. He threw a good deep ball that I saw, and then his no-look pass in the skelly [7-on-7] period was a dart, too, but it hit the tight end [Luke Musgrave] in the chest. That was a good pass. I think he’ll be a great player, to be honest. He learned from A-Rod. Now, he gets the keys to run the system.”

Lining up in close proximity to Love gave defensive tackle D.J. Reader a different perspective.

Jordan Love at the Bengals (Photos by USA Today Sports Images)

“I don’t know if I know the tools that I could tell you exactly if they’re going to be (good),” Reader said not long after getting slapped in the face by Elgton Jenkins. “I could tell you if they’re comfortable back there or not and if the guys up front respect him, his demeanor, how the hard counts are – those type of things.

“He had a good day. I can’t tell you if he can throw the ball or any of that stuff. I thought he did a good job making his checks, going through his reads, seeing what we were in and thinking about it, taking his time. It didn’t seem like a panic back there. Even his ‘can’ calls, he knew what he was going to do. It was good.”

Love threw two touchdowns and one interception on Wednesday. The pick, coming on a receiver screen, was more of a tip of the hat to cornerback Mike Hilton and a point of the finger at the receivers who didn’t block him.

“I saw him check” into the play, Hilton said. “He actually saw numbers. It was pretty much three on one. My corner was about 7 yards behind. Most quarterbacks are going to take that throw. I realized it and I just split [the other receivers] and made a play.”

Having gone against Love all afternoon, Hilton’s scouting report meshes with what the Packers saw when they drafted Love in the first round in 2020 and when Love came off the bench at Philadelphia last year.

“Strong arm, real athletic,” the seventh-year pro said. “I can tell they’re still working on their timing because he’s got a lot of young wide receivers, also. They’re definitely a young team, but they have a chance to do something special, I believe.”

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