The Green Bay Packers took the practice field on Wednesday with everyone but DL Devonte Wyatt participating in some form. Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson both returned to the practice field. CB Jaire Alexander continued to practice as he approaches his return from a groin injury. Perhaps the best news is QB Jordan Love is entirely off the injury report, indicating that the Packers star QB is 100% healthy.
Despite playing the past two weeks, Love was a limited participant before the Vikings game. Last week, in preparation for the Rams, the Packers did not upgrade Love to a full participant until Friday. It is very encouraging to see that Love is fully off the injury report right after the game. All signs are pointing to a healthy Jordan Love. If so, this is the case for the first time since Week 1.
With WRs Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson returning to practice, the entire offense has a chance to play on Sunday. Christian Watson, who left the Viking game with an ankle injury, returned to the practice field as a limited participant. If Watson is cleared to play against the Cardinals, this will be the first time since Week 1 in Brazil that the entire Packers offense appears to be fully healthy. Doubs has returned to the team after serving a one game suspension last week. Hopefully, Doub’s undisclosed issue is resolved.
Will Jordan Love Be Back Under Center?
In the second half of 2023 when the Packers offense caught fire, the straw that was stirring the drink was the under center play action pass. Green Bay’s offense is at its best when the play action pass is effective. After the Rams game, Wes Hodkiewicz asked Jordan Love why the team was running more plays out of shotgun than under center. Love claimed it was the game plan but there is a case to be made that this was designed to limit Love’s mobility with a recovering knee.
Now that Jordan Love is entirely off the injury report, it is worth noting that the entire playbook should be at his full disposal. This is exciting because the Arizona Cardinals come to town with a rather lackluster defense. The Cardinals defense ranks 27th in EPA per dropback and 23rd in EPA per rush. The offense seemed to find a groove in the second half in LA. Hopefully, this will be the start of something for Green Bay. With a fully healthy Jordan Love and some victory momentum, LaFleur finally has his entire playbook available to design an effective gameplan.
The Packers still need to get through two more days of practice. After all, Green Bay has 13 players listed on the injury report. Hopefully, the 12 of 13 who practiced Wednesday will be back out there Thursday and Friday. At the current moment, it is very encouraging to see the Packers turning a corner with the injury bug. It is even more enticing that Jordan Love is entirely off the injury report. It looks like the Packers QB is finally past his MCL injury.