GREEN BAY, Wis. — Matt LaFleur watched from the Green Bay sideline last November as his quarterback dropped back. The Packers faced third-and-16 from the ' 35-yard line, a 10-point deficit threatening to deepen if they didn’t strike.
But didn’t panic. He dropped back, and then dropped further, before unleashing a cross-body throw to the end zone. Just beyond the hands of two defenders, receiver came down with the score.
DEEP BALL TO ! TOUCHDOWN! 🙌 | 📺: CBS — (@packers) A realization fell over LaFleur. His quarterback was seeing the game more like the fourth-year vet that Love was than the first-year full-time player he also was. “Early on, you’re trying to protect him — protect everybody, quite frankly, not just him, but all the youth,” LaFleur told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday after practice at Packers training camp.
“We got a little too conservative. The mindset we always [say] around here with the coaches is, ‘Shoot or shoot.’ “We started doing that, our guys were making plays and it obviously served us well down the stretch.
” A late-season surge and playoff win later, the Packers enter 2024 with a still-young team in a competitive division. But they learned enough about their young quarterback in his first full year to decide that his success wasn’t a fluke. Rather, the Packers view 2023 as a realization of potential they’d watched burgeon for three years in practices.
Watching Love’s command of the huddle and decision-making on game days,.