The Green Bay Packers are 2-5 and the blame is flying. Fans long for the day when Joe Barry was the only divisive name in conversations. From Matt Lafleur’s play calling to Brian Gutekunst’s decisions to Jordan Love’s performance, Cheeseheads are getting loud.
But former Packer great Brett Favre, appearing on Tyler Dunne’s podcast Go Long, made it a point to defend Love’s performance, contrasting his starting situation with that of his own and Aaron Rodgers’. Here are the best excerpts.
“He[Rodgers] was loaded at receiver. Loaded. And a good, solid, consistent offensive line. Big difference from what he took over and what Jordan is taking over. And again, no offense to the guys. I think they’re young. they’re talented. But they’re young. They haven’t established themselves yet.
They haven’t logged the miles that Sterling had logged prior to me getting there. He established himself as a true number one receiver, one of the tops in the league before I got there. So I had that to fall back on. When all else fails, throw it to Sterling and good things happen. And that was true. Jordan doesn’t have that.
That’s kind of what we’re seeing with Jordan. Maybe not so much understanding stuff, because he’s been in the same offense and he’s been with LaFleur long enough that that part of it, I think he has good command of. The problem is protection is shaky at best. You got guys that are not Sterling Sharpe at wide receiver. And again, all due respect, they’re young
And I think even though he’s been around for a while, it’s different watching versus playing. The real bullets are a lot different than not real bullets. And so, you know I think Packers fans across the country and the world are disappointed, but…I think most of them would agree to a certain extent that they’re not surprised…So there is going to be a learning curve, and the season’s not over…. they could hit on all cylinders at any moment. Or it could be 2 years from now. I have no idea but I think we need to be somewhat patient with them.”
There’s certainly a lot of culpability in the building right now in Green Bay, but Favre’s words are true. As someone who played and excelled at the position he knows how important the situation is to a quarterback. To compare Love to either he or Rodgers would be silly. Now that certainly doesn’t mean that Love will be an elite quarterback, or even the future starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, but it does mean we need to have an understanding of what he’s dealing with in order to have a realistic view on his progression as a player.
The whole Favre podcast is an absolute must watch for any Packers fan. Click below to watch.
