Brett Hundley and Body Language

Body language is overrated, until it’s not.

Brett Hundley (#7) is set to make his preseason debut tonight against the Oakland Raiders.

Watching from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away, it’s easy to project your own feelings onto a player’s reactions on the field. I’m pretty sure this phenomenon has defined most of Jay Cutler’s career. Sure, he’s hardly the most warm and cuddly guy, but with a few more charming shrugs and grins, he’d probably be Matthew Stafford.

Pitfalls notwithstanding, Ted Thompson is a big believer in body language. In excellent article by Rob Demovsky, Thompson says he prefers to watch preseason games from the sideline because he can look into a player’s eyes and see how he’s doing.

“To be able to watch them come off the field and see how their eyes are and see if they’re nervous or see if they’re having fun, the whole process of going through the game, because it’s not a preseason game for these guys. It’s a game.”

I don’t know if there’s anybody who embodies Thompson’s philosophy more than Brett Hundley. If things go as planned, tonight’s game will be just one of three times we see Hundley take something resembling meaningful snaps.

Nobody wants to see Brett Hundley play during the regular season. If he does, things are either going really well or really poorly. These preseason games are all he has, so let’s see how he handles it.

Is Brett Hundley in control of the offense? Does he look harried and frustrated, or does he look cool, calm, and collected? His on-field body language will be a big thing to watch in tonight’s game, and it could go a long way towards telling us what the Packers should think about their back-up quarterback situation.

Unless it doesn’t. Such is the preseason.