Green Bay Packers: 1 Big Takeaway from Each Coach Interview

Head coach Matt LaFleur, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, and the rest of the offensive positional coaches all met with reporters on Sunday following the Green Bay Packers preseason opener against Houston.

If you missed anything, below I have my one big takeaway from each coach’s interview.

Matt LaFleur (HC): Jordan Love “could miss a couple days of practice”

Jordan Love didn’t play in the second half of the Green Bay Packers preseason opener because the team was being extra cautious with his shoulder. The potential injury occurred on the second-quarter fumble when a Houston defender slapped Love’s arm as he was about to throw.

The good news is that the MRI on Love’s shoulder “came back clean,” as Adam Schefter reported, but the Green Bay Packers are still going to take things slowly.

LaFleur told reporters that Love won’t play again until the team doctors give him the “green light.” Although LaFleur would add that Love is “doing fine,” he also mentioned that he “could miss a couple days of practice.”

If this is the case, you can expect Green Bay to sign another quarterback in the meantime. They can’t go through practices with only two quarterbacks on the roster.

Nathaniel Hackett (OC): Jordan Love needs to “let that sucker rip”

Overall, I think just about everyone would consider Love’s debut a success—or at least they should. But one area of emphasis moving forward, in addition to continually working on his footwork, is that he needs to “let that sucker rip,” as Hackett said.

"“As he gets that trust aspect, he’ll be able to pull the trigger more and more. That just comes with time,” said Hackett."

Immediately after the game, when LaFleur was asked about Love’s performance, he echoed similar sentiments as Hackett. Love finished the game 12/17 for 122 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 7.2 yards per attempt.

Luke Getsy (QB Coach): Love’s tempo and footwork were solid

All offseason we’ve heard that two big areas of emphasis for Love was with his footwork and making sure that he’s going through his progressions:

"“The main goal for me right now is that he just progresses properly, that he plays with his eyes and his feet,” said Getsy via Packers.com during OTAs. “If his eyes and his feet tell him to move in his progression, I want him to move in his progression. So if defense is taking something away, we need to progress. I don’t want him to think he needs to force something down the field.”"

Saturday night we saw Love look comfortable in the pocket, even though the offensive line play was less than stellar, and he attacked the middle of the field. With reporters, Getsy would comment that Love’s footwork and tempo were “solid all night,” which was obviously good to see, especially since he’s been up and down in that area during camp.

"“To see how he would respond, see how he would react, how he commanded the huddle, I thought he did a really nice job,” said Getsy via Packers.com. “Communication was really good. He did a really nice job processing most of the night. It was good to see. I think that was a big stage for him. He was excited. You could see he was pumped up for that game, just to be able to finally get out on that field, missing the preseason last year.”"

Adam Stenavich (OL Coach): The two guard spots are still wide open

With David Bakhtiari sidelined, there are two starting guard spots along the offensive line that are wide open. So far through camp, we’ve consistently seen Ben Braden, Jon Runyan, and Lucas Patrick rotating with the first-team offense at those two spots.

Unfortunately, Saturday was a rough night for the Green Bay Packers offensive line, and not just for these three, but for just about everyone else as well—excluding Josh Myers.

Despite having a few weeks worth of practices and now one preseason game under their belts, according to Adam Stenavich, the Packers don’t appear to be much closer to naming a starting right and left guard for Week 1, saying, “nobody has really stepped up and risen above the rest.”

You can expect to see that these three will continue rotating during practices and we could see a new configuration this coming Saturday when Green Bay takes on the New York Jets.

Ben Sirmans (RB Coach): Kylin is in a “great position” for the RB3 role

This really isn’t anything groundbreaking, based on practice reps and what we’ve seen from Kylin Hill, this is an assumption that most of us would have made. But it’s still nice to hear a member of the coaching staff mentioning it.

Due to some poor blocking upfront, Hill never really had an opportunity to get going on the ground on Saturday and finished with -2 rushing yards. However, on that screen pass where he scored a touchdown, we saw that wiggle and elusiveness that he has in the open field, which is something we’ve seen often in practice.

"“He’s put himself in great position,” said Sirmans via Sports Illustrated. “Obviously, we’ve got two more preseason games left, but you’re able to see a lot of things that he’s able to do. I think the more we put him in situations going against other people and maybe even going against people’s top players to really gauge him even more, I think that’ll help him. But been very pleased with what we’ve seen in him so far. He’s put himself in good standing.”"

Justin Outten (TE Coach): Jace Sternberger is still having some “up and down days”

As Justin Outten noted, it’s a “huge preseason” for Jace Sternberger, who will be suspended for the first two games of the regular season.

Through the first few weeks of camp, Outten would describe Sternberger’s performances as “sporadic,” adding that “whether it’s getting used to the playbook or around the line of scrimmage … he’s still having some up and down days.”

Well, Saturday’s preseason game was one of those ups as Sternberger caught all three of his targets for 35 yards—including what could be considered the play of the game for Green Bay as he hauled in a 34-yard pass from Love over the middle.

We saw that big-play ability that has been referenced when many have discussed Sternberger, but the biggest hurdle for him at this point is finding more consistency—both in games and on the practice field.

Jason Vrable (WR Coach): Marquez Valdes-Scantling is “really confident right now”

Speaking of ups and downs, Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s career has been a roller coaster ride up to this point. There have been several frustrating drops but also the big plays that resulted in him leading the NFL in yards per catch last season with 20.9.

He would go on to have an impressive NFC Championship performance, hauling in four of his six targets for 115 yards with a touchdown. It’s performances like that on the big stage that can vault a player to new heights and perhaps we are seeing the beginning stages of that taking place this summer.

Although Valdes-Scantling is flying under the radar at training camp, a few different Green Bay Packers beat reporters have noted how reliable he has been this summer as a pass catcher, and it certainly isn’t going unnoticed by Vrable:

"“He’s just really confident right now, he’s playing at a high level, he’s in attack mode at all times, and typically when you’re confident you trust yourself,” said Vrable via Packers.com. “Things just start going in the direction that you want and that’s what I see with him. He’s worked at a lot of things that he wanted to get better at as opposed to pushing those away. He’s bought in to the saying, ‘Whatever my weakness was, I’m gonna make it my strength,’ and he’s bought into that type of coaching."

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes are from Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press Gazette