The Philadelphia Eagles may have defeated the Green Bay Packers 40-33 in Week 12 on "Sunday Night Football," but the Packers came away with perhaps the biggest moral victory possible: the knowledge that their long-term future could be secure with backup and former first round pick quarterback Jordan Love. According to the Eagles' four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay, who has faced Aaron Rodgers 13 times, the Green and Gold have a "bright, bright future" with Love.
"As a defense, when A-Rod goes out, we feel great," Slay said on his "Big Play Slay" podcast on Monday. "That's one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, so if he goes out, we have to go out there and really get after it. The D-line gets a little hungrier because they know with a young buck coming in they can get after the quarterback since A-Rod makes a lot of checks and communication at the line of scrimmage, that's hard to sack. Young buck [Jordan Love] comes in and actually does a very, very solid job. Green Bay got a bright, bright future, like a bright one because buddy [Love] was slinging it."
The 26th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft came off the bench Sunday on the road in prime time against the team with the best record in the NFL after Rodgers departed with an injury to his ribs, and Love completed six of his nine passes for 113 yards and a touchdown -- a 63-yarder to second-round rookie Christian Watson. Green Bay scored 10 points, a touchdown and a field goal, on Love's two drives.
.@jordan3love TO @ChristianW2017!
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 28, 2022
63-YARD TOUCHDOWN! 🙌#GBvsPHI | #GoPackGo
📺 NBC pic.twitter.com/xSwdMErnhw
"I ain't going to lie it low-key looked like A-Rod, like he's [Love] been learning a lot," Slay said. "It should be a blessing for him to be behind a GOAT and learning like that at a high level. He's a talented kid as well, he's a first-round draft pick, has a lot of talent. He just has to wait his time, just how A-Rod waited his time for Brett Favre. His time is going to come, and you can see the gun-slinging mentality he had just like him [Rodgers]. With the quick release and the flick, picking the back leg up, he's [Love] copy and pasting him [Rodgers] for sure. That's a great player [Rodgers] to be copy and pasting from."
The Packers have some big decisions to make in regards to their quarterback position in the upcoming offseason. Rodgers, their four-time NFL MVP, turns 39 on Dec. 2 and has two years remaining on his three-year, $150 million extension he signed this year. However, the front office has to make the call on how much they believe in Love with the decision of whether or not to pick up their 24-year-old backup's fifth-year, fully-guaranteed option. With the way things went Sunday night, there's a chance Green Bay could pull a rabbit out of the hat again in cycling from one long-term quarterback to another just like they did when they went from Favre to Rodgers 14 years ago.