Jordan Love throws long TD pass on Green Bay's 3rd play, Packers down Browns 23-10

CLEVELAND (AP) — Jordan Love has never felt better about a three and out.

Love made the most of limited playing time, throwing a 65-yard touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks on Green Bay's third play as the Packers rolled to a 23-10 exhibition win over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday.

Love, who s igned a four-year, $220 million contract extension at the start of training camp last month, completed both pass attempts in his one series. Sean Clifford replaced the 25-year-old Love.

“I'm happy with it,” Love said of his brief appearance. “It ended with a touchdown. That was the goal.”

The Packers have faith in Love following in the footsteps of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers to continue Green Bay's lineage of great quarterbacks. He led the Packers to 10-9 record last season in his first year as a starter.

On Green Bay's first possession, Love waited for Wicks to get behind safety Ronnie Hickman before hitting him in stride for an easy, quick-strike score.

“We had a great play dialed up for that situation, one on one with Wicks and the safety a little bit off of him,” Love said. “He ran a great route, kind of lulled him to sleep at the top and I was able to get a pass to him.”

A fifth-round pick from Virginia last year, Wicks came on strong at the end of his rookie season, scoring four TDs in a three-game stretch before being blanked in the divisional playoff loss to San Francisco.

While the Packers got Love some work, the Browns rested starting quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is coming off right shoulder surgery.

Watson has thrown almost every day in camp and appears to be on track to start the Sept. 8 season opener against Dallas. But the Browns are remaining cautious with Watson, who has been limited to just 12 games in his first two seasons with Cleveland.

Backup QB Jameis Winston started for the Browns and played just one series in his debut for Cleveland, which signed him as a free agent in March. He went 4 of 5 for 30 yards.

“I thought he operated well,” coach Kevin Stefanski said. "I know we talk about that word operation, but it’s getting your team from the huddle to the line of scrimmage, making the correct run checks, pass checks, that type of thing. I thought he did a nice job.”

Stefanski chose to sit many of his starters, including star defensive end Myles Garrett, the reigning AP Defensive Player of the Year, wide receiver Amari Cooper and Pro Bowl left guard Joel Bitonio.

Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur took a different approach, choosing to give many of his starters at least some playing time.

“We just wanted to get their feet wet a little bit,” LaFleur said. “Knock some rust off. It's always good not only to go out there and play but just the preparation mentally to play a game.”

THE OTHER QBS

Clifford may have solidified his spot as Green Bay's No. 2 QB, completing 10 of 19 passes for 111 yards. The former Penn State standout attempted just one pass as a rookie in 2023.

Seventh-round pick Michael Pratt went 5 of 7 for 46 yards.

One of Cleveland's few bright spots was Dorian Thompson-Robinson. He went 14 of 18 for 134 yards. Thompson-Robinson, who made three starts as a rookie last season, is battling Tyler Huntley for the No. 3 job.

KICK STAND

Green Bay's kicking competition between Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph remained highly competitive.

Carlson, who struggled at times as a rookie in 2023, made field goals of 46 and 33 yards and converted his only extra-point attempt. Joseph booted a 35-yarder and made a PAT.

Dustin Hopkins will handle Cleveland's kicking, but the 33-year-old didn't play. Cade York, who was cut by the Browns last season before they traded for Hopkins, kicked a 55-yard field goal.

INJURIES

Packers: Rookie RB MarShawn Lloyd went out with a hamstring injury. The third-round pick from USC had one carry for 8 yards. ... CB Robert Rochell was treated in the medical tent during the second quarter for an apparent shoulder issue.

Browns: Second-year backup C Luke Wypler suffered a broken right ankle and will undergo surgery, Stefanski said. ... Hickman injured his back on the Wicks TD and didn't return. ... WR David Bell went out with a quadriceps injury.

UP NEXT

Packers: At Denver on Aug. 18.

Browns: Host Minnesota for two practices this week before facing them in an exhibition on Aug. 17.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Green Bay Packers quarterback Sean Clifford hands off to running back Emanuel Wilson (31) for a 5-yard rushing touchdown during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Cleveland Browns, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Green Bay Packers running back Emanuel Wilson (31) breaks through the Cleveland Browns line for a 5-yard rushing touchdown during the first half of an NFL preseason football game, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski watches from the sideline during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston looks downfield during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Cleveland Browns quarterbacks Jameis Winston (5) and Deshaun Watson (4) watch from the sideline during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Green Bay Packers running back Emanuel Wilson breaks through the Cleveland Browns line for a 5-yard rushing touchdown during the first half of an NFL preseason football game, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb talks to teammates during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns defensive back Myles Garrett stretches before an NFL preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson talks with head coach Kevin Stefanski during pregame of an NFL preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson poses with his girlfriend Jilly Anais during pregame of an NFL preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Cleveland Browns quarterbacks Jameis Winston (5), Deshaun Watson (4) and Tyler Huntley talk during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love throws during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Cleveland Browns, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Winter is hitting the Gaza Strip and many of the nearly 2 million Palestinians displaced by the devastating 14-month war with Israel are struggling to protect themselves from the wind, cold and rain.

There is a shortage of blankets and warm clothing, little wood for fires, and the tents and patched-together tarps families are living in have grown increasingly threadbare after months of heavy use, according to aid workers and residents.

Shadia Aiyada, who was displaced from the southern city of Rafah to the coastal area of Muwasi, has only one blanket and a hot water bottle to keep her eight children from shivering inside their fragile tent.

“We get scared every time we learn from the weather forecast that rainy and windy days are coming up because our tents are lifted with the wind. We fear that strong windy weather would knock out our tents one day while we’re inside,” she said.

With nighttime temperatures that can drop into the 40s (the mid-to-high single digits Celsius), Aiyada fears that her kids will get sick without warm clothing.

When they fled their home, her children only had their summer clothes, she said. They have been forced to borrow some from relatives and friends to keep warm.

The United Nations warns of people living in precarious makeshift shelters that might not survive the winter. At least 945,000 people need winterization supplies, which have become prohibitively expensive in Gaza, the U.N. said in an update Tuesday. The U.N. also fears infectious disease, which spiked last winter, will climb again amid rising malnutrition.

The U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees, known as UNRWA, has been planning all year for winter in Gaza, but the aid it was able to get into the territory is “not even close to being enough for people,” said Louise Wateridge, an agency spokeswoman.

UNRWA distributed 6,000 tents over the past four weeks in northern Gaza but was unable to get them to other parts of the Strip, including areas where there has been fighting. About 22,000 tents have been stuck in Jordan and 600,000 blankets and 33 truckloads of mattresses have been sitting in Egypt since the summer because the agency doesn’t have Israeli approval or a safe route to bring them into Gaza and because it had to prioritize desperately needed food aid, Wateridge said.

Many of the mattresses and blankets have since been looted or destroyed by the weather and rodents, she said.

The International Rescue Committee is struggling to bring in children’s winter clothing because there “are a lot of approvals to get from relevant authorities,” said Dionne Wong, the organization’s deputy director of programs for the occupied Palestinian territories.

“The ability for Palestinians to prepare for winter is essentially very limited,” Wong said.

The Israeli government agency responsible for coordinating aid shipments into Gaza said in a statement that Israel has worked for months with international organizations to prepare Gaza for the winter, including facilitating the shipment of heaters, warm clothing, tents and blankets into the territory.

More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry's count doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it has said more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war was sparked by Hamas’ October 2023 attack on southern Israel, where the militant group killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages in Gaza.

Negotiators say Israel and Hamas are inching toward a ceasefire deal, which would include a surge in aid into the territory.

For now, the winter clothing for sale in Gaza's markets is far too expensive for most people to afford, residents and aid workers said.

Reda Abu Zarada, 50, who was displaced from northern Gaza with her family, said the adults sleep with the children in their arms to keep them warm inside their tent.

“Rats walk on us at night because we don’t have doors and tents are torn. The blankets don’t keep us warm. We feel frost coming out from the ground. We wake up freezing in the morning,” she said. “I’m scared of waking up one day to find one of the children frozen to death.”

On Thursday night, she fought through knee pain exacerbated by cold weather to fry zucchini over a fire made of paper and cardboard scraps outside their tent. She hoped the small meal would warm the children before bed.

Omar Shabet, who is displaced from Gaza City and staying with his three children, feared that lighting a fire outside his tent would make his family a target for Israeli warplanes.

“We go inside our tents after sunset and don’t go out because it is very cold and it gets colder by midnight,” he said. “My 7-year-old daughter almost cries at night because of how cold she is.”

Grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, play next to their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

One of Reda Abu Zarada's grandchildren, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, sits on the dirt wearing torn socks while playing near their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, play with sand next to their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, play next to their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, play next to their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada wraps herself and her grandchildren in blankets as they prepare to sleep in their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada sit by a fire at a camp by the sea in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada, 50, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, warms up by a fire with her grandchildren at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada wraps herself and her grandchildren in blankets as they prepare to sleep in their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Amani Abu Zarada, fourth from left, feeds one of her children with fried zucchini made over a fire made of paper and cardboard scraps outside their tent in a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada, left, and her daughter, Amani, standing, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, feed their children and grandchildren with fried zucchini made over a fire made of paper and cardboard scraps outside their tent in a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada, 50, displaced from Jabaliya in nothern Gaza, sits by a fire with her grandchildren at a camp by the sea in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)