Matt LaFleur’s motivational quote highlights Packers huge worry without Jordan Love

Against all odds, with Jordan Love on the sidelines out with injury, the Green Bay Packers found a way to get their first win of the 2024 NFL season, improving to 1-1 through the first two weeks.

For the Packers to have won this game without Love, two things would have had to happen. Their defense would have to show up, and their running game would have to perform at an incredibly high level. Well, their defense allowed just 10 points, and Green Bay dominated on the ground.

This postgame quote from LaFleur shows just how much Green Bay relied on its running backs and especially its offensive linemen to shoulder the load.

It's great that Green Bay's offensive line performed as well as they did, and it's even better that LaFleur was as confident as he was in them. They would not have stood much of a chance on that side of the ball without them. The problem is, LaFleur relying on them as much as he did highlights a major issue without his star quarterback. He does not trust his backup, Malik Willis.

Motivational quote proves Matt LaFleur does not trust Malik Willis

Entering this game, it was easy to expect Green Bay to try and run the ball a ton, but did anyone really expect this? Josh Jacobs carried the ball 32 (!) times for 151 yards, totaling more yards on the ground than Willis did in the air. Even Willis ran it six times for 41 yards. On the flip side, Willis threw just 14 passing attempts.

To his credit, Willis threw the ball well. He completed 12 of those passing attempts for 122 yards and a touchdown, coming up with several key third-down completions. When he was called upon, he came through. He just wasn't called upon very much at all. Just 14 passing attempts in 2024? Really?

It was safe to assume LaFleur was desperate to throw Love into the mix if he could by keeping the option open that he'd play one week after a very scary injury, but the over-reliance on the run was fascinating to watch.

It'll be interesting to see what will happen if Green Bay trails in a game Willis starts. They had the benefit of playing ahead the entire way in this one, so Willis didn't have to throw the ball much at all. If Green Bay is behind late in their Week 3 matchup against the Tennessee Titans, would LaFleur have his quarterback throw the ball? All indications suggest no.