Sean Clifford Did Enough To Win The Backup Job But Still Has Lots To Clean Up
More thoughts on Brett Favre's long lost son
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It’s not pre-season if we don’t spend an inordinate time talking about backup QB play. For the past 3 years Packers fans were dying to see what the future would look like with an unknown in Jordan Love trotting out to take pre-season reps, but this year Love is no longer the backup. He’s the starter of the Green Bay Packers. Yeehaw.
I already shared in depth thoughts on Jordan Love on my youtube channel after the game on friday night, but for those of you who missed it, I was pleased with what Jordan Love displayed vs the Bengals.
Was it perfect? No. There were a few easy throws Love wishes he could have back. He missed a wide open Luke Musgrave and misplaced a screen throw that got deflected by a defensive lineman. But outside of that he made some great plays and a solid touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs.
On a side note Colin Cowherd concluded that because of Jordan Love missing a wide open Luke Musgrave he’s a “game manager” with nothing special. HAHAHA. That’s funny. It’s crazy to judge Love’s future off a missed throw in a pre-season game.
I actually enjoy watching Colin Cowherd and I’ve come to learn that he enjoys when people react to what he says because it helps his ratings. At the end of the day sports is entertainment. When people say things that most people disagree with it adds to the discussion and gives us all more to think about. For all I know Jordan Love could end up as a bust, but to declare what he is right now is wayyyyy too early.
What’s even funnier about Cowherd’s take on Love is another clip was floating around where years ago he called Jordan Love a more talented Josh Allen. Since that moment Love has only started one game and Colin has changed his mind.
He has mentioned in the past month that someone who played for the Packers at one point when Love was on the roster stated that he never saw anything special from Love. But who knows who that source is. Plenty of Packers players have made it clear that Love has shown moments of special throughout his time in Green Bay.
We all have to remember Love still only has 1 NFL start. 1!! He’s going to take steps forward as the season progresses. And Friday was a good start. That was his first time seeing live game action since January 1 when he went 2 for 3 for 9 yards vs the Minnesota Vikings.
Now onto Sean Clifford. There’s been lots of talk about the 5th round rookie. I shared a few of my thoughts in yesterday’s newsletter, but I thought today we’d take an even closer look at Clifford's background and what he could become in Green Bay.
One interesting fact about Clifford is that he’s 4 months older than Jordan Love. He redshirted with Penn St. in 2017, spent one year as a backup, and then started from 2019-2022. He played in 51 college games vs Jordan Love’s 38. Even though he’s a rookie, he has more live game experience than Love. Of course Love has had 3 seasons being coached up by the Packers training staff and a dude named Aaron Rodgers, which I would say has been impactful.
In a post draft press conference Packers director of football operations, Milt Hendrickson, said this about the Clifford selection:
“Sean is a highly accomplished quarterback at Penn State. He’s 31-14 as a starter. I think he brings a lot of experience to our room.”
“He’s played in big games. That kid coming into the environment in Lambeau, it’s not going to be too big for him. That experience factor along with some of the moxy that he has, as a guy, to me it’s a culmination of who he is, not one specific aspect that way.”
The Packers knew that Clifford wouldn’t fold under pressure because he’s already experienced what it’s like to play in big games with huge crowds. He didn’t look nervous at all vs the Bengals last Friday.
What we saw from Clifford in Friday’s pre-season game vs the Bengals is a guy who is poised in the pocket and willing to take risks, which is a good and a bad thing.
Throwing 2 interceptions in the 2nd quarter is not a reliable way to win games in the NFL and that’s exactly what Clifford did. But he still went 20/26 for 208 yards. So if you took away his interceptions you’d say, “Wow. That guy is really good.”Clearly Clifford has things to clean up. That’s not rare for a late round QB. There’s a reason he wasn’t a first round draft pick.
Let’s take a look at a scouting report that came out before the draft from Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network.
“Strengths: Record-setting Penn State quarterback who displays outstanding pocket presence, senses the rush, and remains poised. Fearless, steps up to avoid defenders, and plays tough, smart football.
Buys time for receivers, knows where his targets are, and spreads the ball around. Does an adequate job picking up yardage with his legs. Doesn’t make poor decisions.”
We witnessed Cliffords poise and fearlessness in the pocket on Friday. That’s why he reminded me of Brett Favre. And for those who think I’m saying that Clifford is as good as Favre, I am not. I’m just noting the play style. Favre was a guy who took lots of risks placing the football into tight windows. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn’t.
“Weaknesses: All over the place with throws. Doesn’t correctly read the defense on a consistent basis. Occasionally, releases the ball off his back foot. Really cannot drive deep passes.”
We also witnessed Clifford make 2 throws he shouldn’t have made that led to interceptions. He was inconsistent.
The interesting thing about Clifford’s college career is that he didn’t have that much of an issue with throwing interceptions. Take a look at his stats over 4 years.
He never reached double digit interceptions. He threw 2.77 touchdowns for every interception. That’s pretty solid. Solely based off of Friday’s pre-season game you may assume he had an interception problem in college, but looking at the numbers it doesn’t look like that was the case.
But the NFL is a much different beast than college football. The talent is at a different level. Clifford will be facing the toughest competition he’s faced in his life, so the things he was able to get away with in college likely won’t work in the NFL.
It’s easy to overreact to pre-season performances and it’s important to remember Clifford was playing against the 2s and 3s. There are lots of QBs who have shined in the pre-season only to disappoint when it really counts. The real question for Clifford is if he can learn to make the right decisions instead of forcing the ball in situations where it’s better to take a sack or throw it away.
After the positives he displayed on Friday he looks like a lock to be the backup. He has time to be coached up by Packers QB coach Tom Clements, a coach who Aaron Rodgers attributes lots of his success to. If Clifford can become a better decision maker he could make a very good backup in Green Bay.
At the moment teams have yet to solidify their 53 man rosters, so on paper Clifford has not won the job vs former USFL MVP Alex McGough who the Packers signed in the past month. McGough played in Friday’s pre-season game but only for a couple drives. He didn’t even have the opportunity to throw a pass.
If the Packers were really thinking McGough could compete for the backup job with Clifford, we would have seen the Packers give him more opportunities on Friday. It looks to me that the Packers will be rocking with Clifford as Love’s backup in 2023.
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