Getty Wide receiver Jayden Reed of the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers‘ offense around Jordan Love is a banged up unit ahead of Sunday night’s showdown against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, but things seem to be trending in the right direction for one of Green Bay’s electrifying rookies.
Green Bay will be without rookie tight end Luke Musgrave, who is on injured reserve after suffering a lacerated kidney, Aaron Jones’ availability remains uncertain as the veteran running back continues to miss practice due to an MCL sprain, but wide receiver Jayden Reed says his absence from practice isn’t anything to be too concerned about.
“I wouldn’t say setback,” Reed said, of missing practice for two days due to a chest injury. “Like I said, just taking it day by day. Trying to get right and go out there on Sunday.”
Entering Week 13, the Packers’ second-round pick in April’s draft is Green Bay’s leading receiver with 36 receptions for 497 yards, and five touchdowns, thanks in large part to Reed’s strong chemistry with Love that has built throughout the 2023 campaign.
According to Reed, his absence from practice was merely a precaution and that it seems to be something that he will be able to play through.
“Just time,” said Reed when asked about the injury, via PackersWire. “Take it day by day. Get treatment and do what I can. Whatever the training staff is leading me to do … I’m just following the plan.”
Since Love has a 117 passer rating when targeting Reed this season, according to Pro Football Focus, having Reed available in a game with the potential to become a high-scoring affair against the Chiefs could be a major boost for the Packers’ offense.
Packers’ Jordan Love is ‘Clicking’
One of Reed’s fellow wide receivers is seeing major growth in Love, especially in recent weeks.
Christian Watson has been on a bit of a tear, catching nine passes for 139 yards with a pair of touchdowns over the past four weeks, both because he is finally getting healthy and in part as a result of Love’s improved prowess as a deep-ball thrower.
“He’s clicking,” Watson said of Love, via ESPN. “We’re seeing exactly what we knew he was capable of. As a team and as an offense, specifically, we’ve just got to keep on stacking these games. I think he’s done a great job of stacking these weeks and stacking these reps and continuing to get better and better. He’s shown us exactly what we’ve seen out of him all along.”
There’s a chance that Love will have Watson, Reed, and Romeo Doubs at his disposal in Week 13.
Love Aims to be Dramatically Better in Second Game vs. Chiefs
Sunday night will mark Love’s second appearance against the Kansas City Chiefs, and the four-year veteran aims for a much stronger performance this time around.
Love made his first career start against the Chiefs, in the hostile environment of Arrowhead Stadium, in a forgettable 13-7 Packers loss. That day, Love completed just 19-of-34 passes for 190 yards with one touchdown to one interception, making the start in relief of Aaron Rodgers.
Sunday night, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur believes that he’ll be able to put Love in a better position to succeed, by not repeating the mistakes of how Green Bay prepared for that prior clash.
“Instead of just riding with what we game planned,” LaFleur explained. “We should’ve, I don’t want to say started over, but we should’ve had a better plan in place for some of the potential issues that were going to come up that absolutely came up in that game.”