Packer Central

Jordan Love ‘Ready’ After Being Swept by Lions Last Season

The Green Bay Packers face a huge test in Week 1 with the Detroit Lions coming to Lambeau Field. “We’re excited about it and ready,” he said.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) smiles during warmups before the preseason game against Seattle.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) smiles during warmups before the preseason game against Seattle. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The first question to Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love on Wednesday was how his injured thumb was feeling.

His answer was telling, not just for the state of his left thumb, which was injured against the Jets in the first preseason game and was repaired via surgery, but for his mindset ahead of Sunday’s season-opening showdown against the Detroit Lions.

“I’m doing good, feeling good,” Love said. “I think we’re all ready and excited to get the season kicked off. Obviously, get a home game here at Lambeau and just an NFC North team. We’re excited about it and ready.”

In other words, the injury – he wore tape and a brace at practice – isn’t a factor and his focus is on football.

That’s critical, because the Week 1 challenge – and the importance of it – can’t be overstated. Yes, it’s just one of 17 games and no Super Bowl has ever been won in Week 1. But Detroit is one of the best teams in the NFL, offering an immediate litmus test for the Packers, who consider themselves championship contenders, as well.

Even while reeling with an incredible number of injuries to major players, including premier defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit finished last season No. 1 on third down, No. 7 in the red zone and No. 7 in points allowed. Moreover, the Lions won both matchups last season, with Love throwing just one touchdown pass in the games. Plus, the Packers were hardly competitive in losing at home to them in 2023 and 2024 with Love behind center.

“It definitely sits with you,” he said. “Not even going against the Lions, but just our performance against every team in the NFC North wasn’t good enough, wasn’t up to our standards. That’s definitely something that’s lingered with us throughout the offseason.

“It’s always a point that we focus on is trying to go out there and win the NFC North. It starts with that. So, we’ve definitely got a good test coming here Week 1, be able to get us started on the right foot. We’ll be ready for them, and it just comes down to going out there, executing and playing our best game.”

This will be Love’s third Week 1 start. With all eyes on No. 10 in his first start as the full-time replacement for Aaron Rodgers in 2023, he lifted the Packers to a 38-20 win at Chicago. Last year, the Packers lost 34-29 to the Eagles in Brazil, though the score was of far less significance than the knee injury that cost him two games and limited him for others.

In his two Week 1 games, Love has thrown five touchdown passes and one interception with a 100.8 passer rating.

The challenge this year is heightened not only by the opponent but the potential issues of facing a first-time coordinator, with Detroit promoting linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard to defensive coordinator to replace new Jets coach Aaron Glenn.

“I think Week 1, there’s always some nerves in it,” Love said. “First game of the season, all the unscouted looks, not knowing exactly what they’re going to be about this year on defense, things like that.

“There’s always some nerves, things like that, but you get settled in the game pretty fast and get back in that mode of just going out there and playing. But I think the biggest thing is not knowing what to prepare for exactly with a new coordinator. You never know what you’re going to see on Sunday, so you’ve just got to be ready for everything.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) throws a pass against the Detroit Lions last season.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) throws a pass against the Detroit Lions last season. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Here are Love’s thoughts on a few other topics:

On the trade for defensive end Micah Parsons:

“It’s amazing. I had no idea. They did a great job of keeping it secret. I saw a lot of the rumors and things like that that were floating around out there. Obviously, there was probably some stuff going on. Who knows? I don’t know how all the rumors get out and things like that. … David [Mulugheta, the agent they share] didn’t even tell me. Micah didn’t tell me. Nobody kept me in the loop. I was left out of that one.

“I’m excited. It’s amazing, obviously. The flip side of that is it’s really tough losing a player like Kenny Clark (with) everything he’s done for the organization and the player he was, the person he was in this building. It’s tough. But I’m excited, like I said, to have Micah.”

On if a potentially dominant defense with Parsons would take the pressure off Love:

“No, I always look at it like I’m trying to go out there and put my best foot forward. Obviously, you want the defense to go out there and do the same and be as dominant as possible. When that happens and they’re getting stops back-to-back and making it tough for offenses to score, obviously, that plays in our favor.

“But, at the end of the day, we still got to go out there as an offense and put up points. We can’t be just sitting back, relying on the defense to get stops and hopefully hold teams to low scores. We got to be able to attack and I always got that attacking mindset. I’m trying to put up as many points as possible, so we always got that mindset.”

On facing Detroit on Sunday and a short turnaround for another showdown game against the Commanders on Thursday:

“[Focus on what’s] Right in front of you, and I think that’s always the mindset that we try and focus on is never looking forward, never looking ahead. Just focus on the team we got coming in this week and taking care of business this week, and then we’ll move onto the Commanders the following week. But, yeah, we do have two good teams coming in here and it’ll be a good test for us to see where we’re at early in the season.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.