He can run like crazy, so either he gets some yards on the ground or he faces a lot of zone defense. Maybe both.
If he starts 3 games, can GB win at least 1? I’d take that.

I agree that Willis is the Packers best option. The way this offensive line looked we need a QB that can use his feet to scramble and either throw or run.

Hopefully the OL gets its act together and starts blocking. The best thing for this team is a good run offense.

Whatchu talkin' about?!
Willis!
Someone had to do it...

I think it's best to go with Willis because we don't need any vet minimum temporary roster spots taken. Save them for something that turns out to be a real addition to the team when it needs it. You can maybe get one or two games until the league catches up anyway.

As CH72 and dobber say above, it doesn't matter (even if Love is back) until the O-line starts to get some push. They started doing better towards the end of the Philly game at run blocking and got some yards, but I wonder if that wasn't more the way the D was playing them because they had the lead and didn't care if the Packers were going to use up the clock on themselves.

I’d argue that the Bears got a win despite Williams. More aptly, thanks to a nightmare by Levis that gifted them the game literally on top of being awful generally.

To win with a backup requires a very adroit game plan suited to his strengths and weaknesses or a stellar contribution from one, preferably more, of the ground game, the D and STs. The Bears managed to deliver two, STs and D and won despite a truly awful offensive showing.

The Colts aren’t good at QB, but they are better than Williams was at the weekend. Richardson is inaccurate and, really, still raw potential. A great arm, very athletic, not so good with the finesse passing, progressions or reading fields. Sounds a great deal like I perceive Willis at this point.

The Colts use Richardson in a way that appears to accept that he’s a long term project that is as yet limited. We need to do the same with Willis. They try to use his mobility, they accept that the risk of a 50 yard pass with him is not that much greater than one of 10, particularly if that requires quick processing.

Richardson’s career completion rate is nearer to 55% than 60. For comparison, Hurts has a 63% career rating. He averages about 50 yards a game rushing. He’s big, 244, 6’4. He ran a 4.4 40. He’s hard to bring down if he escapes. Willis is more Hurts size, 6’1, 220s, by comparison. Richardson struggles in the pocket. If he’s contained things can get ugly. They try to run to set up the pass and particularly to drag defenders into a heavy box and then go deep. It’s a very simple O from his perspective.

We don’t know a meaningful completion percentage for Willis, but it’s currently 52 from his first year starts. I think he’s a more talented runner in the true sense, but not enough to make an obvious difference. Both have cannon arms, both appear to do better in motion than in the pocket, though in the summer Willis seemed more comfortable there than either have been previously.

The game plan should therefore be pretty similar. Run to set up the pass. Run with RBs but also Willis. Create the most uncertainty. RPOs. Route trees with simple reads and regular deep options. Richardson completed only 9 passes last week, but 3 were over 50 yards ( he only attempted 19). If we are going to take risks, the payoff has to be commensurate with Willis. Scheme players, RBS, TEs or slot open in space for easy pass options as well.

I don’t see a lot of difference between Willis or Richardson at this point. So it comes down to smarts, how you handle them and then a match up of D’s and the run game. They have Taylor, but he struggled last week. We have Jacobs and Wilson. While Wilson didn’t struggle, Jacobs did mightily in the first half. In the second he was very much better. Honestly, it could have been as simple as getting the right cleats. Their OL was not impressive blocking. I’d say that on paper the run game is a wash.

That leaves run D. Theirs was very poor, ours was for the most part decent while containing a similar QB. They did not have that challenge. To succeed, I think that’s the most likely are where we might have an advantage, but I don’t think it’s big enough or certain enough to rely on.

This game will come down to eradicating the sloppy mistakes and errors and then hinge on which coach provides their limited QB with the most effective game plan for them. The Colts have one in place. We can study it and presumably have. It’s up to LaFleur to at least match it and get the most out of Willis. We will not win by being cautious and trying long slow drives of the sort seen in 2022 with Willis. He’s just not accurate enough to sustain them by passing.

To play that game we’d need to run on them at will, which I am not comfortable relying on given our inconsistency run blocking. We don’t consistently move the pile. Even in the second half last week, 2/3 of Jacobs yards came on 2 attempts. The other 8 didn’t go anywhere really. In contrast, last week, Mixon was regularly well blocked, and of his near 160 yards, the longest run was 13. That’s what is needed to sustain drives by running. I’m not going to rely on their DL being bad enough to be mauled by our OL consistently.

This is a chance for LaFleur to shine. He’s going to have to deliver the better game plan unless one of the two QBs simply blows away expectations in one direction or the other. Should be an interesting chess match. This is a game DBs could really make a name for themselves on either side. It’s also a game that may very well show a lot about LaFleur.

The Packers have plenty to focus on no matter who the QB is.
Stop the run, tackle effectively-that includes DB's.
O-Line needs to push.
So far I've more dominant Defenses on the Bears, Niners, Eagles and Colts.

The defense is fully stocked?

We scored 29 points on offense... (The most of any NFCN team and the only NFCN team who lost.) Granted the defense turned over the Eagles twice and we only scored 6 points, but when you score 29 points and lose, it means the defense needed at least one more stop.

1st game of the year, I understand the disappointment. Had we hosted that game in Lambeau, I am sure we'd have won going away, but the NFL in it's infinite wisdom had to do what it does and ruined what could've been a great home opener for the Packers. Just MHO.

"The Packers don’t need someone new under center." They just need a new Center.

Pipp, Majkowski, Love.

OK, I’ll try this post again. It blends a little bit of historical knowledge, some Packer trivia, and a delusional level of optimism. I think it’s fairly funny. How did this get 3 downvotes and no upvotes? And why do I care so deeply about your approval? And why do I ask so many questions?

There is still a chance Love will start on Sunday...albeit a small one given the Packers medical team's ultra cautious approach.

Matt said if he is cleared he will play. This probably means his MCL strain was between a grade 0 to 1 which could be day to day. A grade 1-2 is the 4-6 week recovery mentioned earlier. I think that is off the table, barring a setback.

I strained my MCL a few years ago the pain was excruciating for two days. On the evening of the 2nd night the pain began to dissipate (kept my injured leg extended and elevated with ice and compression. By the 4th day, I was back to normal. I was expecting surgery, the pain was so intense. Amazed how quickly the MCL recovered.

A lot of people, many, many people are saying Ryan Tannehill once tried to drink from a firehose *while* the sky was falling, so, yeah, let's roll with Willis.

Well, it's Willis time. You start the season hoping that your backup is good enough to get you through a couple of games, and hoping you won't have to find out. The news on Love's injury could have been a lot worse.

I always think that if you can just make it through the first four games of the year at 2-2, that's a good thing. 3-1 is better, but 1-3 isn't the end of the world. And I think that's still attainable with Willis starting next week.

Indy scored 27 points last week at home, so they can score some points.
Tennessee scored 17 on the road against the Bears.
Minnesota got a defensive TD and scored 28.

Of those three games, the Minnesota game is most important because we'll be at home against a division opponent. It seems like Love will be ready to go by then.

So we need to beat either Indy on our own field or Tennessee on the road in order to have a chance to be 2-2.

I see a lot of criticsm regarding the play of the Oline, including from the HC. The line certainly could have played better, and it will with practice, and that'll help our redzone offense be more like it was last year. Still, despite everything, the Packers did put 29 points on the board, on the road, against a pretty good team. You don't get that many points on the board unless somebody is getting blocked.

Mike McCarthy, when he was new to GB, talked about not having "negative plays" on offense, because they put you in long down and distance situations and kill drives. Think about the game: We had 18 incompletes,1 interception, and several penalties. Add in a run or two that went nowhere and we're looking about 24 plays on offense where we either hurt ourselves or accomplished jacked squat.

That's a huge amount, IMO. The Packers are going to have to have fewer negative plays on offense this week, even if it's just a boring run into the pile It's nice that Willis can run, and we should probably have him run instead of throwing it around a bunch

Defensively.....only two teams gave up more points than the Packers last week, Carolina and Washington. Ugh,
that'll have to improve, pronto. Philly averaged over 8 yards per passing attempt, and less than 3.8 yards/rushing attempt. One more time: 8 > 3.8.

I like many wanted to see what Love could do in his second season as QB. The guy is still a mystery to me. I mean when I looked at his college stats I couldnt beleive how Gutt drafted this guy, he threw for 17 interceptions his senior year in Div 1a competition.
Guess were going to have to wait a little longer. I hope for pack fans, he doesnt bust out because he is due the kind of money your paying a future leader to bring you to the promissed land.

We need our D to step up big time, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Disappointed in Hafleys first game but it’s only one. Same old, can’t stop the run and can’t get off the field on third down.

Now we see how good of a coach MLF is...the next 3/4 games will show us a lot...he's going to have to do more than stare at the play sheet and look up befuddled.

Hello fellow Packer faithfuls,

I ain't scared. In the long run...this will instill in the players that they can't rely on one player to bail them out. It is on each one to win their one on ones. This will aid the team in the long run when #10 is back under center.

When Willis scores, and he will with a rushing TD...I sure hope his celebration is him reenacting " dropping a deuce". He takes his #2 number seriously folks. If I was one of the WRs in the huddle and #2 called the play...wellllllllll, I would look him straight in the eyes and emphatically say, "what you talkin' bout Willis?" You know, just to relax him a bit.

All will be right with the world. We will be hearing "Roll out the Barrel" often.

We got this,

Vince Burp