Jordan Love has never done anything to anyone. He was a late draft board riser out of sleepy Utah State. He wasn’t trash talking like a WWE wrestler or endorsing questionable body spray and/or insurance on your television set 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He was just trying to play some football and get paid a little money to do it, and yet somehow controversy has clung to him like the BO in Jerry Seinfeld’s car. His surprise draft position, 26th overall to the Green Bay Packers in 2020, created a rift in the organization that tore open this spring, when starting QB Aaron Rodgers did everything in his power to walk away from the franchise.
Eventually Rodgers and the Packers patched things up for one last ride. Rodgers reported to training camp. Soon after he was asked if he had been vaccinated against COVID-19, and he told reporters that yes, he had been “immunized.” We now know that didn’t mean “vaccinated,” as Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 last week, with protocols surrounding the positive test revealing that Rodgers hadn’t actually received the jab. With Rodgers down, that dragged Love back into another whirlwind controversy, with the second-year QB slated to get his first-ever big league start in Rodgers’ sted on Sunday.
Surely that would be the end of the drama for Love. Surely it could just be about football now … right? Wrong.
That’s Love’s girlfriend and mother, Anna Love, who hasn’t missed one of her son’s games since he was a redshirt freshman at Utah State, sitting in the absolute dead last row for his very first NFL start at Arrowhead on Sunday. There was a lot riding on the game for both teams, but in a matter of minutes, no one could talk about anything else.
Perhaps it was best for Love that all the attention was directed on Row Z, seats 800 and 801. Perhaps it was better that his family could barely make out the action on the field, as the Packers got shut out through three quarters, Love going 19 of 34 for 190 yard, one touchdown and one interception. Silver linings aside, however, this is yet another Packers-inflicted indignity (yes, the Packers get better seats than this at away games, they were just assigned to someone else) for Mr. Love, who has suffered way too many for a guy who has only played one game.
So here's some unsolicited advice: Get the hell out of there while you can, kid. The seats might not be better in Miami, but they’ll sure be warmer.
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