Will Jordan Love Play vs. Eagles in Wild-Card Game? ‘We’ll See’

The Green Bay Packers’ top quarterbacks, Jordan Love and Malik Willis, were limited participation on Wednesday as the team gets ready for their wild-card game at the Eagles.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love was injured during this play against the Chicago Bears. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – A lot of questions about the right elbow of Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love elicited little insight about his status for Sunday’s NFC wild-card playoff game at the Philadelphia Eagles.

Has the numbness in his right hand gone away?

“Yup.”

How soon after the game did it go away?

“Pretty much by the next day, I was pretty much feeling back to normal. The next morning.”

Did his grip on the ball feel fine at practice?

“Yup.”

Was it his funny bone?

“Yeah.”

And then came the key question: Would Love be under center for the big playoff showdown at the powerhouse Eagles?

“We’ll see,” he said. “Yeah, I’m hopeful.”

Officially, Love was limited participation on Wednesday’s injury report. He threw on a “limited basis,” coach Matt LaFleur said.

Love said “we’ll wait until later in the week” before he cuts it loose on the practice field.

Perhaps the whole thing is some gamesmanship from the Packers’ perspective and Love will start on Sunday with no issue. Besides, there’s little doubt which quarterback the Eagles are preparing for this week.

“Not really,” Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said this week when asked by Eagles reporters if the uncertainty posed any challenge.

“Obviously, if Love doesn’t go, there’s a little bit of change in their offense, but not a gross change,” Fangio said.

If there’s some concern looking ahead to Sunday, it’s that Love said he’s dealing with some soreness in his right elbow.

He didn’t wear any protection on the elbow at Wednesday’s practice but wouldn’t rule it out for the game.

Green Bay’s backup quarterback, Malik Willis, was limited, as well. He banged his throwing hand on the helmet of a Bears defender but managed to finish the game.

“It doesn’t feel normal, no,” he said. “I just did whatever they allowed me to do out there today and we’ll see how it goes the rest of the week.”

Of greater concern might be Love’s level of play before the injury. After a strong stretch of games that coincided with Green Bay’s streak of five consecutive games with 30-plus points, Love out of 31 quarterbacks who threw 50-plus passes the last three weeks ranked 20th in passer rating, 25th in completion percentage and 24th in yards per attempt.

“We’ve just got to go out there and execute,” Love said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to get in a rhythm early. I think that’s really important. When you start a game, to just feel like you’re in that rhythm, feel like things are hitting, and obviously make plays early on.

“So, I think if we get back in that rhythm and are executing at a high level, I think it makes it easier to go out there and play confident and play free. So, we’ve just got to go out there and make plays, at the end of the day.”

Love completed 50.0 percent of his passes in Week 1 against an Eagles defense that finished third in opponent passer rating and sixth in opponent completion percentage.

The Packers will have almost no chance to spring the upset if Love is 7-of-12 for 69 yards, like how he started against Chicago, or 10-of-17 for 64 yards through three quarters, like he was the week before at Minnesota.

“It’s everything,” Love said. “It’s footwork, the timing of the play, being on the same page with receivers, obviously your fundamentals throwing the ball, make sure everything’s on point.

“There’s a lot of things that play into that, but it comes down to just being locked in on the details, being on point when you get out there in the game and just going out there and doing the same thing you do in practice – make sure everything transfers over to the game.”

It’s not as if Love is incapable. In last year’s playoff debut at Dallas, Love was 16-of-21 passing for 272 yards. If not for a late incompletion, he would have finished with a perfect passer rating. Even with it, his 157.2 passer rating was the best ever for a quarterback in a playoff road game.

“I think it definitely gives you confidence,” Love said. “That’s the level we need to get to.”

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