Don't expect a hyper-conservative gameplan from the Packers for Malik Willis

The former Tennessee Titan doesn't have much experience, but Matt LaFleur and the Packers desperately need a win and they're not going to play it safe.

Starting on short notice against the reigning AFC champions, on the road at one of the toughest places to play in the NFL, Jordan Love chucked the ball 34 times in his debut as a starting quarterback. COVID-19 robbed him of a normal rookie season with no mini-camps or rookie camps, a protracted training camp, and severely limited reps in his rookie season as QB3 behind Aaron Rodgers and Tim Boyle. Still, when called upon a year later, in a close game, Matt LaFleur chose violence … er, passing. The Green Bay Packers need a win to keep their season alive while Love recovers from an MCL injury and LaFleur’s track record says they won’t be shy.

There is at least one fundamental difference here: time spent. Willis has been in Green Bay for approximately three weeks, whereas Love had a season and a half, but as mentioned above, that time was not nearly as useful as it would have been in any other year. Willis comes in with three more starts than Love had in that game and an extra year of NFL experience, even if he admitted he wasn’t ready for those starts in 2022 when he got them.

Willis may not know every play or every check, but Love had hardly proven he could execute when LaFleur dropped him into the Chiefs game against Steve Spagnuolo. LaFluer had him ripping deep sideline throws off seven-step drops, something he’d likely never done in a game at any level before that one. And now the Packers head coach is going to be scared by a Gus Bradley defense that is hardly so complicated and could be without three of its best players on Sunday?

Mike McCarthy ham-and-egged a couple of wins with Brett Hundley, using his legs and RPOs to just enough success to beat the Bears, Browns, and Buccaneers while Rodgers recovered from a collarbone injury. Hundley also looked like a CFL player against the Baltimore Ravens, but again, Green Bay doesn’t face a defense of that caliber or that style in Week 2.

If the defense could have had one stop back in KC, Love would have had the ball with a chance to go beat the Chiefs. This is what good coaches can do: they find a way to make it work.