RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesGREEN BAY – When the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers kick off their exhibition seasons Thursday night, Aug. 13, there’s a decent chance Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers will be the two starting quarterbacks.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur said prior to practice Aug. 11 that the plan was for Love to start the game.
“I always have the right to change my mind,” LaFleur said.
There are studies that show teams that use their players a certain amount in the preseason tend to have fewer injuries during the regular season, according to LaFleur, and so the plan all along has been to give the starters on both sides of the ball some snaps.
But LaFleur would not throw Love out on the field if his starting offensive line wasn’t mostly intact and he wasn’t confident in the pass protection. As of this week, left tackle Jordan Morgan, center Sean Rhyan, right guard Jacob Monk and right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele are healthy. If Bako-Bewele, who just started participating in team drills, doesn’t play, Anthony Belton, a former starter, would take his place.
“I’d say it’s pretty fluid in regards to how many snaps, but I do think there’s a lot of value for all our guys to just get mentally prepared to go play a game, whether it’s one play, whether it’s three plays, 10 plays, the whole game,” LaFleur said. “I think there’s a ton of value in that, just getting your process down.”
LaFleur said that while Love could be one of the guys who exits quickly, there will be starters who stay in the game to get more work.
In Pittsburgh, former Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Aug. 11 that his team would be split into three groups: one that will play a series or two, one that will play the rest of the first half and one that will play the second half.
McCarthy wouldn’t commit to playing Rodgers, but he said Rodgers isn’t averse to appearing in one or more games to prepare for the season.
Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon also will have to decide how long he wants to play his starters and which to hold back.
LaFleur said there will be little or no game-planning.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like we’re negligent, and have no idea what somebody may do (against us),” LaFleur said. “You’re running just base core concepts in every phase of the game. What’s great about this camp is I think we’ve seen a lot of different things from really both sides of the ball from our offense in terms of how we motion and use misdirection to our defense and some of the looks that we’re getting.”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Packers coach Matt LaFleur plans to play starters against Steelers
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