Sean Clifford is starting to turn heads after another strong performance in week 2 of the preseason against the Patriots.
The rookie from Penn State took over for Jordan Love after he led the offense on the touchdown drive to finish Love’s night.
Clifford completed 13 of 19 pass attempts for 137 yards but didn’t throw a touchdown.
Sean Clifford: The Good
The key thing here is that even though he didn’t throw any touchdowns, Clifford didn’t turn over the ball.
That is a huge improvement from last week when he threw two interceptions against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Clifford continued to show that he is not afraid to throw deep or throw into traffic ether.
It seems like his favorite wide receiver is Malik Heath as he led the Packers in receiving yards with 5 catches for 75 yards.
He also led the Packers on a scoring drive before halftime, driving the Packers into Field Goal range and gave fellow rookie Anders Carlson a chance to give the Packers a lead before halftime.
Clifford was heating up in the fourth quarter as he tried to lead a 4th quarter comeback before the game was postponed due to a severe injury to Patriots cornerback Isaiah Bolden.
The Bad
As to any good performance there was some mistakes that Sean Clifford could fix.
Although Clifford didn’t turn the ball over, he did struggle under pressure.
Some of his throws were ether behind or ahead of his receivers.
That can be fixed with time and practice as the season goes on.
There was another flaw that I did catch during the game on one play that looked like a toss play to the running back.
Instead Clifford took it as a regular handoff.
He was able to improvise and do a chest pass but the play resulted in a loss of yardage.
Most of these things are rookie mistakes and all rookies go through this.
With time and practice Clifford can correct and learn from these mistakes.
Conclusion
Through two preseason games Clifford hasn’t shown any threat to take over Jordan Love’s starting Quarterback job, but with time and learning on the sidelines, Clifford can be a solid backup Quarterback if needed.
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Hau Khuong has been a Packers fan since 1996. He currently works as a video editor in Green Bay and writes for PackersTalk.com and you can follow him on twitter at @HauKhuongSports.
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