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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer
Matt LaFleur had a vision for Jordan Love and the rest of the Green Bay Packers‘ starters entering Saturday’s preseason opener at the Cleveland Browns.
“To go out there and score in one play and take the ball away in one play on defense,” LaFleur said before the game. “You want them to go out there and compete, execute, have a clean operation and then get them out.”
Love, in his first game action since he signed his four-year, $220 million contract extension a week into training camp, nearly pulled it off.
On his third snap, Love hit second-year receiver Dontayvion Wicks in stride for a 65-yard touchdown pass. And with that, Love was done.
And he might be done until the Sept. 6 regular-season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil. LaFleur said after Saturday’s 23-10 win that Love and most of the offensive starters will sit out preseason game No. 2 at Denver next Sunday because they will get the necessary work in Friday’s joint practice with the Broncos.
“Because we have the competitive practice versus the Broncos, use that as their game reps and let the other guys play for the most part in that second preseason game,” LaFleur said. “Then we’ll reevaluate it for the third one.”
Love played in all three preseason games last August in preparation for his first go-around as the full-time starter, but before last year, LaFleur never played Aaron Rodgers in the preseason.
“I think we could go into it, just jump into the season,” Love said of the possibility of not playing any more in the preseason.
“But I think maybe getting a couple more snaps here in the preseason would be nice. We only got three plays tonight, so just being able to get back out there, get in that mode, it was nice to get in the game today. But I think getting a longer drive, putting a couple more plays up might be nice.”
Among the regular or potential starters who did not play against the Browns were right tackle Zach Tom, who is on a limited return from a pec injury, first-round pick Jordan Morgan (shoulder) and cornerback Jaire Alexander (personal reasons).
Backup quarterback Sean Clifford played the next five possessions after Love was done and led three scoring drives (a touchdown and two field goals) to finish 10-of-19 passing for 111 yards.
The Packers got out of the game relatively healthy. The only in-game injury announced by the team was to rookie running back MarShawn Lloyd (hamstring).