GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur says the team doesn’t plan to put Jordan Love on injured reserve, an indication the quarterback could return relatively soon.
Love injured his left medial collateral ligament in the final minute of the Packers’ season-opening 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday in Brazil. If the Packers placed Love on injured reserve, he would have to miss at least four games.
LaFleur provided even more optimism while describing the Packers’ quarterback situation for Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts (0-1). Although the MCL injury is expected to sideline Love for multiple games, LaFleur said Monday the Packers would start Malik Willis with Sean Clifford as the backup “if Jordan’s not cleared.”
“I couldn’t give you a percentage, but if he gets cleared, we’ll give him every opportunity like we always will,” LaFleur said Monday. “I know he’s doing everything in his power. I know he’s spending a lot of time trying to get back as soon as possible. But certainly we’re not going to put him in a position where if he can’t protect himself, that he’d go out there.”
Love’s injury occurred on the third-to-last play of the Eagles game after he threw a backward pass to Josh Jacobs while facing major pressure from Philadelphia’s Jalen Carter and Josh Sweat. Carter was lying down and had a hold of Love’s left leg when Sweat pushed the quarterback to the ground.
LaFleur acknowledged feeling relieved Love’s injury wasn’t more serious. Love, 25, signed a four-year, $220 million contract extension this summer after leading the NFL's youngest team to a 10-9 record and NFC divisional playoff appearance as a first-year starter last season.
“I felt a little confident since he was moving,” LaFleur said. “He said obviously he was in pain, but I wasn’t even going to go there in my mind until I knew one way or the other, and thankfully we got some relatively good news."
Willis had played the final two snaps of the Eagles game after Love’s departure.
The Packers acquired Willis from the Tennessee Titans for a 2025 seventh-round pick in a trade that was announced Aug. 27. Willis has picked up the offense fast enough to get the nod ahead of Clifford, the Packers’ 2023 fifth-round pick from Penn State.
“I think he’s put a lot of time and effort into this thing,” LaFleur said. “He’s grinded, he’s learned the terminology and is able to spit out the play calls, and we’ve got confidence in him. I think if he’s given a full week of preparation, a full week of practice, I’ve got confidence he’ll go out there and perform at a high level.”
Willis might not be quite as familiar with the system as Clifford, but the 2022 third-round pick from Liberty has more game experience. Willis made three starts his rookie season, though he didn’t throw for as many as 100 yards in any of them. Clifford has thrown one career regular-season pass.
The Packers cut Clifford and quarterback Michael Pratt — a rookie seventh-round selection from Tulane — the day they announced the acquisition of Willis. They later brought Clifford back onto their practice squad.
LaFleur said the Packers didn’t seriously consider signing another quarterback after Love’s injury.
“You explore every possibility, but at no point in time did we ever have any discussions with anybody,” LaFleur said.
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) plays against the Philadelphia Eagles during the first half of an NFL football game, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, at the Neo Quimica Arena in Sao Paulo. (AP Photo/Doug Benc)
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) reacts during the second half of an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, at the Neo Quimica Arena in Sao Paulo. (AP Photo/Doug Benc)
DEER PARK, Texas (AP) — A towering flame gradually subsided Tuesday morning in the aftermath of a massive pipeline explosion after a vehicle drove through a fence and struck an above-ground valve, officials said.
Deer Park officials said police and local FBI agents initiated investigations and found no preliminary reports that would suggest a coordinated or “terrorist” attack and that “this appears to be an isolated incident.”
The investigation included efforts to learn more about the driver of a vehicle that was incinerated by the pipeline explosion as flames scorched the ground across a wide radius, severed adjacent power transmission lines and ignited homes at a distance. Police did not provide any information about the person's condition.
An evacuation area included nearly 1,000 homes and initial shelter orders included schools.
Operators shut off the flow of natural gas liquids in the pipeline, but so much remained in the miles of tubing that firefighters could do nothing but watch and hose down adjacent homes.
Deer Park Mayor Jerry Mouton Jr. described intense heat from a fire that endured for more than 12 hours as ladder trucks showered houses from above.
"A lot of the house structures that are adjacent to that are still catching on fire even though we’re putting a lot of water on them,” Mouton said at an afternoon news conference. A spewing flame still lit up the sky at sunset Monday.
Firefighters initially were dispatched at 9:55 a.m., after an explosion at a valve station in Deer Park, adjacent to La Porte, rattled homes and businesses, including a Walmart. Deer Park officials said an SUV drove into the valve after going through a fence on the side of the Walmart parking lot.
At the news conference, officials said only one person, a firefighter, sustained a minor injury. Later, Deer Park spokesperson Kaitlyn Bluejacket said four people were injured. She didn’t provide details about the severity of the injuries.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement that 20 miles (32 kilometers) of pipeline between the two closed valves had to burn off before the fire would stop.
Anna Lewis, who was walking into the nearby Walmart when the explosion happened, said it sounded “like a bomb went off.” She said everyone inside was rushed to the back of the store and then taken across the street to a grocery store before being bussed to a community center.
“It scared me,” she said. “You really don’t know what to do when it’s happening.”
Geselle Melina Guerra said she and her boyfriend heard the explosion as they were having breakfast in their mobile home.
“All of a sudden we hear this loud bang and then I see something bright, like orange, coming from our back door that’s outside,” said Guerra, who lives within the evacuation area.
Guerra’s boyfriend, Jairo Sanchez, said they’re used to evacuations because they live close to other plants near the highway, but he hadn’t seen an explosion before in his 10 years living there.
“We just drove as far as we could because we didn’t know what was happening,” Sanchez said.
Houston, Texas’ largest city, is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries and plants and thousands of miles of pipelines. Explosions and fires are a familiar sight in the area, including some that have been deadly, raising recurring questions about the adequacy of industry efforts to protect the public and the environment.
Letting the fire burn out is better, from an environmental perspective, than trying to attack the flames with some kind of suppressing foam or liquid, said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, a petroleum engineering professor at the University of Houston.
“Otherwise it’s going to release a lot of volatile organics into the environment,” he said.
Still, there will undoubtedly be negative environmental consequences, including a release of soot, carbons and organic material, he said.
The pipeline’s owner, Dallas-based Energy Transfer, said air monitoring equipment was being set up near the plume of fire and smoke, which could be seen from at least 10 miles (16 kilometers) away at one point.
A statement from Harris County Pollution Control on Monday afternoon said no volatile organic compounds had been detected. The statement said particulate matter from the smoke was moderate and not an immediate risk to healthy people, although “sensitive populations may want to take precautions.” The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said it was also monitoring the air.
Natural gas liquids are used primarily in the manufacturing of plastics and basic and intermediate chemicals, Krishnamoorti said.
The fire burned through nearby power lines, and the website PowerOutage.us said several thousand customers were without power at one point in Harris County.
Krishnamoorti said the area’s extensive pipeline infrastructure will have to be closely inspected for damage beyond the explosion site, though the fire “won’t be a major disrupter of supply chains.”
The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates oil and gas in the state, said its safety inspectors were investigating.
Margaret Newman, who lives on the edge of the evacuation zone, said that when she heard the explosion she went out into her yard and could see the flame shooting above the trees. She lost electricity but has a generator to keep her home cool and planned to stay put.
This story has been updated to correct that the pipeline carries natural gas liquids, not liquified natural gas.
AP writers Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.
Residents watch the pipeline fire burning in La Porte, Texas, from South Meadow Drive and East Meadow Drive Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Deer Park, Texas. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Firefighters respond to a pipeline fire Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Deer Park, Texas. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A Clear Lake man watches the pipeline fire burning in La Porte, Texas, as he gives a ride to his friend who is a resident on E. Meadow Drive, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Deer Park, Texas. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Meadow Way Drive residents Maddy Graham, right, and Ashley Cordova are self evacuating with cat, Mitzi, as the pipeline fire burns in the background Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Deer Park, Texas. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A massive pipeline fire burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Police block off a highway as a large fire from a pipeline explosion burns near La Porte, Texas, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi)
A pipeline with a giant plume of fire burns Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying natural gas liquids burns in a massive fire near La Porte, Texas, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi)
A pipeline carrying natural gas liquids burns near La Porte, Texas, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Firefighters protect a neighborhood from a fire in a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Firefighters take a break from battling a fire at a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Firefighters battle a blaze from a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas that burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline with a giant plume of fire burns Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline fire in La Porte, Texas, sparks grass fires and burns power poles on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, forcing people in the surrounding neighborhood to evacuate. (KTRK via AP)
Firefighters work on the scene of a pipeline fire in La Porte, Texas, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KTRK via AP)
A burned vehicle sits near a pipeline fire in La Porte, Texas, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KTRK via AP)
A pipeline fire in La Porte, Texas, sparks grass fires and burns power poles on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, forcing people in the surrounding neighborhood to evacuate. (KTRK via AP)
