Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Sean Clifford wishes he had some plays back from Sunday’s 27-2 walloping at the hands of the Denver Broncos. To his credit, it wasn’t exactly a fair fight for Clifford, who began the game with the second-team offense going up against Denver’s starting defense. Luckily, it only lasted two drives.
The first drive ended in a turnover on downs and the second in a punt. Clifford completed four out of six passing attempts, but his day hardly improved once the Broncos called their dogs off.
After the backups entered the game, Green Bay’s very next drive ended in a punt. The fourth drive started off promising, with Clifford converting multiple third downs to generate some offense. However, all momentum was dashed when Clifford targeted tight end Joel Wilson deep over the middle, only to watch the ball fall into the hands of safety Keidron Smith.
Unfortunately, it would turn out to be Clifford’s last throw of the day.
“That one was unfortunate,” Clifford said of the pick he threw. “Good play by the safety. I could have put it a little bit more to the right, my right, but I’m not mad about it. That’s a play I want to make. I want to put out there on tape. Felt good about the play, got a good coverage for it. Wrap the backer a little bit and that’s a good play right there. Mad about the result, but I’m not mad about the thought process that got me there.”
Even though it looked like a poor decision initially, Matt LaFleur stepped to his quarterback’s defense, stating Wilson could have helped him out by flattening out his route and arriving in the window quicker.
Overall, it wasn’t a good day for gaining clarity on the backup QB job, as Clifford finished 6-of-10 for 43 yards and a pick, while Michael Pratt was 10/16 for 52 yards.
LaFleur acknowledged the lack of production from his quarterbacks but emphasized that 11 players have to execute on offense.
“I think the production kind of speaks for it,” LaFleur said. “It wasn’t just on them. It’s everybody. It’s all 11. We’ve got to block better up front. We’ve got to finish runs better. We had a couple of drops. I think it’s just collectively all 11 have got to be better in order for us to have any success offensively.”
One of the few positives LaFleur took away from the Broncos game was that it was a good lesson for his guys. Not coming out with maximum effort and focus can lead to an embarrassing performance.
Fortunately, Clifford and the Packers get somewhat of a do-over this week, with the Baltimore Ravens coming in for a joint practice on Thursday before Saturday’s preseason finale. It will be a great opportunity for everyone to wash themselves of the stench they picked up in Denver.
Clifford plans to make the most of it by getting back to making the plays he knows he can make.
“Probably just getting back to executing,” Clifford said. “Just continuing to make plays where they’re there because I thought that was the main takeaway from the (Denver) game. There were just some plays that I normally make, and I didn’t make them, so just getting back to doing that and feeling good going into Saturday and then let it rip again.”