GREEN BAY, Wis. — Saturday night in California, it’s the Green Bay Packers against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.
This will be the 10th playoff meeting between the two teams. San Francisco has won the last four, but these young 7th seeded Packers aren’t afraid of anyone and are riding momentum out west.
“They’re willing to work and they’re willing to compete and they want to continue to play,” said Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. “And we know we’ve got to play our best in order to keep that going.”
LaFleur knows the type of team the top-seeded 49ers have.
“You better buckle your chinstrap, because they’re a very physical football team,” said LaFleur. “If you don’t match the physicality, they’ll run you right off that field. So that is a challenge for us.”
Packers quarterback Jordan Love’s high level of play continues to draw praise from outsiders; and from within the Packers’ locker room.
“There were so many times where I wouldn’t see what happened, and I just look up and be like, how did we get all the way up there?” said Packers center Josh Myers. “I can’t say enough about him. His leadership, what he’s done and protections, what he’s done with the ball in his hands has been unbelievable. He deserves every ounce of it, though. He’s a great guy and I’m super happy for him.”
“He’s an amazing player, amazing person,” said Packers receiver Bo Melton. “He has confidence in us. We have our confidence in him. He’s leading this team.”
“Tell you what, the guy made some massive plays in that game,” said LaFleur. “Off script, so to speak. And to me, that’s where you see so much value in him.”
“Everyone was flowing offensively, defensively, special teams,” said Love. “Everyone was executing at a high level, and it was able to make it seem almost easy. I think it’s just everybody’s locked in, dialed in, understanding what we need to do and just executing. I think that was our best execution game all year.”
The Packers held a brief practice in the Hutson Center Wednesday with Jaire Alexander, A.J. Dillon and Kingsley Enagbare not practicing. LaFleur is hoping Alexander can practice Thursday.
Over the last nine games, the Packers are 7-2 and Love has been surging. Over that span, he’s thrown 21 touchdown passes with just one interception.
“It’s not easy,” said Love. “There’s a lot of work that goes on in the background throughout the whole week — the process, the coaches giving us a plan, studying the plan, understand what the defense is going to do — so, it’s definitely not easy, but it’s been easier as the season goes on. Just get in that flow.”
Love is used to hearing comparisons to Aaron Rodgers, who could never beat the 49ers in the playoffs.
“I just go out there and play,” said Love. “I let other people handle the comparisons, different things like that. I’m not worried about it. I’m not really thinking about it.”
A California native, Love will have plenty of support in the stands Saturday night at Santa Clara.
“Definitely got a good amount of family and friends coming to the game,” said Love. “It’ll be fun to be able to play in front of them. My mom, we got some good tickets, so she’ll be sitting good, but definitely got a lot of people coming.”
Love is enjoying his young set of receivers, who seem to rotate having big games.
“I think it’s a very unselfish room,” said Love. “I think it’s just the character of everybody in the room. It’s a great group and they’ve come together a lot throughout the season, just the bond. Our receivers coach, Jason Vrable, says it a lot, ‘go out there and play for your brother.’ The routes they run, sometimes they might know they’re not getting the ball, but they’re clearing guys out, opening voids out for their brother. They do that in the running game as well.”
“The work they put in,” said Melton. “Every single receiver, every single person on this team. When their number’s called, they show up in a big way. So, I think that helps.”
Love said he’s not worried by forecasts of possible rain Saturday night in California, saying the Packers often practice in bad weather.