After the Green Bay Packers’ upset loss to the Baltimore Ravens, head coach Matt LaFleur was asked about the status of his two top quarterbacks, both of whom were listed as unavailable against the Ravens on the team’s final injury report of the week on Thursday. Love was later benched on Friday and Willis started at center despite battling a shoulder injury and illness.
On the subject of Love, LaFleur said the quarterback felt good but he just didn’t get through concussion protocol in time. The head coach also said he hasn’t decided yet whether to bench Love (or another starter) for next week’s final regular-season game against the Minnesota Vikings. With the Packers’ recent loss, they are now locked into the NFC’s seventh seed, which means there’s little upside to them having their starters on the field next week from a playoff seeding perspective.
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Willis played very well in Love’s absence, completing 18 of 21 passes for 288 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, Willis also ran for 60 yards and two more scores. However, he missed parts of the Packers’ final two possessions after apparently aggravating a throwing shoulder injury he suffered last week on a non-contact play.
Willis went to the locker room and returned to the sideline to throw the ball. While Willis was sidelined, practice squad quarterback Clayton Tune, who was elevated to the game-day 48-man roster earlier today, threw the ball behind his intended cornerback/receiver Bo Melton, which was eventually brought down and caught by cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who had one working hand after being stepped on by a teammate earlier in the game.
When the Packers got the ball back after an interception, Green Bay elected to let their backup offense control the clock. LaFleur said Willis could have returned to the game at that time, but the team elected to let the reserves play until 0:00.
Addressing the issue of Willis dropping the ball, LaFleur claimed Willis was trying to hear the play and hadn’t even started his rhythm when center Sean Rhyan was carrying the ball. It sounds like the staff will see this as a negative for Ryan rather than Willis.
