Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love surprised a lot of people by leading the team to the playoffs this season despite having started only one NFL game prior to 2023. The Packers also had the youngest roster in the NFL. After an uneven start, Love’s play improved in the second half of the season. But how good has Jordan Love been down the stretch of the 2023 campaign?
The Rough Start for Packers QB Jordan Love
Through the first nine games of the season, the Packers were just 3-6. That included a four-game losing streak that saw Love throw four touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Love struggled with his accuracy, especially on deep throws. Even when receivers were open, he had trouble getting the ball to them in stride or in the right place.
His decision making was also inconsistent. Love had problems making the right reads and knowing when to throw deep and when and where to throw a checkdown pass for a short gain.
The inexperienced receivers didn’t help. They didn’t always run the right pass patterns and too often, multiple receivers would end up in the same spot on the field.
The offense also committed too many penalties which set them back into second or third down and long situations.
The result was an inconsistent offense and a losing record.
How Good Was Jordan Love in the Last Eight Games of the Season?
Both Love and the Green Bay offense improved beginning with the team’s Week 11 win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Green Bay.
In the final eight games of the regular season, the Pack went 6-2 despite some truly poor performances by the defense against the Giants, Bucs, and Panthers.
Love completed 70.3 percent of his passes in the final eight games for 2,150 yards. He threw for 18 touchdowns and had just one interception which came against the New York Giants. His quarterback rating during those eight games was 112.7 which was the second best in the entire NFL.
When asked about Love’s improvement, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said, “He always learns. He learns from his mistakes, and he learns from his successes, and he comes in with a great mindset every day.”
Suddenly, the game slowed down for Love. He was able to make pre-snap reads as LaFleur used motion to force defenses to declare what type of coverage they were in before the play started.
A great example of this was the Packers second meeting with the Vikings. In the first meeting, Brian Flores kept Love off balance with his blitzes and different defensive looks. In the rematch, Love was a step ahead and picked the Minnesota defense apart.
Love went through his progressions and made better decisions. He knew when to try to go deep for a splash play and when to take a checkdown and gain five or six yards to keep ahead of the chains.
How Good Was Jordan Love in the Packers Playoff Win in Dallas?
Love played in his first career NFL playoff game last weekend in Dallas. The Utah State alum came through with an outstanding performance.
He completed 16-of-21 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged an outstanding 13.0-yards per attempt and 15.8-yards per completion. His quarterback rating was 157.2. Love actually had a perfect quarterback rating for the game of 158.3 before throwing an incomplete pass on his final throw of the game.
“Man. Jordan Love, wow. That’s about all I can say is wow,” LaFleur said after the game in Dallas on Sunday.
Veteran running back Aaron Jones was also impressed with Love. “We believed in him from the beginning,” Jones added. “We know it’s a process. That’s not all on him.”
The Future Looks Bright for the Packers Offense
Regardless of how far Love and the Packers go in the playoffs, both the quarterback and the team have exceeded expectations for this season. With a promising young group of receivers featuring Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed plus the tight end duo of Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave, this young offense has yet to reach its full potential.
The future looks bright in Green Bay.
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