Real Confidence Helps Clifford Thrive Rather Than Survive
GREEN BAY, Wis. – For accomplished athletes, confidence is in their DNA. As a record-setting quarterback at Penn State, Sean Clifford should have joined the Green Bay Packers with a considerable amount of confidence.
And he did. But the fifth-round draft pick had to prove could do it in the NFL – not only to the Packers but to himself.
“A lot of people lie about that,” Clifford said after another strong day at Packers training camp on Wednesday. “A lot of people say that when they first get in the league, they know that they can do it. It’s kind of that confidence that you have in yourself but, also, I feel like some guys fake it a little bit and say, ‘Oh, I can do it.’ In my opinion, you really have to prove it to yourself. You’ve got to do it.”
For Clifford, his Penn State records of 10,661 passing yards and 86 passing touchdowns didn’t mean a thing in Green Bay. His school-record 32 wins were irrelevant in Titletown. Clifford had to prove to himself he could make NFL-caliber throws against real NFL players before he could prove to the Packers that he was worthy of a roster spot.
It didn’t take long for Clifford to build, as former coach Mike McCarthy liked to call it, “real confidence.” Because of it, Clifford is a lock to make the roster and be the team’s backup quarterback.
“Probably halfway through OTAs, I started to feel like I can make all the throws that are necessary to be in this league,” Clifford said. “And then I would say, probably the second week of this camp, I started to really feel comfortable in and out of the huddle. That’s probably when I was like, ‘OK, now I’m feeling pretty good.’”
The “culmination” came in the preseason opener at the Cincinnati Bengals. While he threw two interceptions, he threw for almost 200 yards in the first half alone and finished the night 20-of-26 passing.
“Once I played in that, I felt like, if I eliminate the turnovers, I can do some things in this league,” Clifford said.
Heading into Saturday’s preseason finale against the Seattle Seahawks, Clifford is second in the league with 345 passing yards. The NFL leader is Cleveland rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who has benefited from an extra game.
Preseason numbers often can be meaningless. What’s stood out about Clifford is his performance in the 2-minute drill. Day after day, he’s excelled in the most spirited period of practice.
Sean Clifford (Photo by Tork Mason/USA Today Sports Images)
After throwing an interception, he led the offense to a touchdown in the preseason opener at Cincinnati. In the first joint practice against New England, he threw a deep ball to Malik Heath. After some discussion, Heath was ruled down at the 1 (perhaps correctly) but not out of bounds (perhaps incorrectly) and time ran out. In the second joint practice against New England, Clifford led the offense to a touchdown. In the preseason game against New England, he led the offense to a field goal on a drive that started at the 9.
On Wednesday, he led the offense to another touchdown. On third-and-6, a 31-yard back-shoulder connection to Jadakis Bonds moved the chains. On fourth-and-7, Clifford delivered a strike to Grant DuBose between three defenders for the touchdown. He capped the drive with the 2-point pass to Duece Watts.
Clifford downplayed his role, though somebody had to complete all those passes.
“I think it’s just the way that everybody prepares,” Clifford said of his run of 2-minute success. “As much as you hate to say it, when 2-minute comes around, everyone has an even more intense focus because you’re focusing on the hardest situation in football. You’re dealing with time, you’re dealing with how many timeouts you have. Sometimes, defenses bring different looks in 2-minute specifically, so remembering that.
“So, I think it’s an enhanced focus in this offense. Everybody’s so dialed in and always prepared for those opportunities. I think it’s a culmination of a lot of hard work by our offense putting that together.”
A more confident Clifford is a more effective Clifford. Quarterbacks who are uncertain of the playbook or their talent tend to settle for dump-offs and checkdowns. That’s about all Jordan Love threw during his first training camp in 2020, a byproduct of having the entire offseason eliminated by the pandemic.
“He’s picked up the offense really fast,” Love said on Wednesday. “I was just telling him the other day, he picked up the offense so much faster than I did my rookie year.”
As Clifford has gotten more confident, he’s been more willing to push the ball down the field.
“I think that’s a fair assessment,” Clifford said. Then, as any good quarterback would, he deflected the credit to his teammates.
“The quarterback is so reliant on the other guys. We’ve worked really, really hard from the draft, into OTAs, on [to now], so I really feel confident not only in myself but I feel confident in who I’m throwing to. Malik, for example, is somebody if it’s man coverage, I know he’s going to win. Grant coming back [from injury] and now being as good as he has been, another guy that I’m super-confident in. The list goes on – Deuce, Cody (Chrest), all those guys – that’s really where my confidence comes from. I feed off of what they bring, as well. They’ve done a really good job.”
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