Packers 2023-24 Season Thread

For Jordan Love, the speed of the game as a young NFL starting quarterback is akin to the speed of the traffic as a young driver.

“If you can, go back to when you got your driver’s license and you’re 16 years old,” 2002 NFL MVP Rich Gannon told Packer Central this week. “You pretty much have blinders on. All you’re really looking at is the car in front of you and the traffic light or the stop sign. That’s really all you’re able to process. You just want to make sure that you stay between the yellow lines and you’re going the speed limit.”

An older driver doesn’t have that sort of tunnel vision. The Green Bay Packers are hoping a more experienced Love won’t have the sort of tunnel vision that resulted in the first of three interceptions against the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night.

“When you get to be an older, experienced driver, [shoot], you see oncoming traffic, you see cars in the distance, you see cars behind you in your rear-view mirror, you’re seeing the braking patterns, you’re seeing a pedestrian in the crosswalk,” said Gannon, the former CBS analyst and a current contributor for The 33rd Team who’s studied Love throughout the season.

The Packers are enduring early, predictable growing pains with Love. In back-to-back losses to the Lions and Raiders, Love threw one touchdown pass vs. five interceptions. For the season, he’s last in the NFL in completion percentage and has plunged to 28th in passer rating.

“What’s happening is the game’s going a little bit too fast for him right now. The game needs to slow down,” Gannon said. “He needs to be able to anticipate better.”

Nothing matters more to the franchise than the development of the hand-picked successor to Aaron Rodgers. Week by week, they need him to be better. Experience in real games is the greatest teacher. Unlike the preseason, Love too often has been indecisive. Rather than reacting to the coverage, the Packers need Love to start anticipating the coverage.

“If I said to you pre-snap, ‘Hey, based on the concept, based on the protection, based on the alignment of the shell of the secondary, you’re going to start to your left and you’re going to throw the corner or the flat,” Gannon said.
“As opposed to, he’s three steps into his drop, he’s like, ‘Oh, [crap], I’m supposed to be to the left side. Now, all of a sudden, you’re late with your eyes and you speed up your footwork and, [crap], you missed it. Instead of being a 25-yard corner, I’m late with my eyes and I throw the ball to the flat and we pick up 5 yards. You say, ‘OK, that’s OK.’ But it’s not OK. You’re late with your eyes, you’re late with the read, and we’re leaving some big plays on the field because of things like that.”

The one play Gannon came back to a couple times was Love’s second-quarter interception to Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane. Love came out of a play-action fake and fired the ball almost robotically to receiver Romeo Doubs. The play didn’t have a chance, though. Spillane read it like a book for an easy interception.

“You’ve got a crossing route, the veteran quarterback’s going to look and, even though they know it’s man-to-man, you know you’ve got him, if they’ve got time, it’s a five-step drop, on that third step, they’re going to take a peek out in front,” Gannon said.

“Is there a thief or a safety that’s dropping in, or is there a dropping end or dropping linebacker on the back side I need to see, or a Mike linebacker in the middle of the field? He never even saw Spillane. And, quite honestly, if Spillane didn’t intercept it, the other guy would have intercepted it. It was just a bad decision, and he’s making a couple of them every week. It’s what you’re going to get. You’re playing a guy that’s playing for the first time.”

So long as the interception was the equivalent of the 16-year-old who didn’t check his rear-view mirror before switching lanes and got into a fender-bender, the Packers can deal with the growing pains because everyone knew they were coming.

“He hasn’t had the benefit of a lot of snaps. I’m talking about competitive, game-like snaps,” Gannon continued. “I just think every time now it’s a learning experience for him, and also it’s a learning experience for Matt (LaFleur). He’s finding out about what this guy can handle, what he’s good at. What you hope is that the mistakes he’s making he can clean up and not make the same mistake next week or in two weeks.”
Gannon wasn’t worried about Love’s declining performance following back-to-back games of three touchdowns and zero interceptions to start the season. The star running back and premier left tackle are out while Love is trying to make it work with a bunch of rookie and second-year receivers and tight ends.

Under the assumption that Love will be a different player in December and January than he was in September and the start of October, the Packers can deal with some short-term pain for the long-term gain that would come from having their next excellent quarterback driving the franchise.

With arm talent, athleticism, the ability to throw on the move and with different arm angles, Love has all the physical tools, Gannon said. Now, it’s about experiencing everything that’s being thrown at him and learning and improving.

“The expectations are, ‘This is what we do here in Green Bay,’” Gannon said about three decades of Brett Favre and Rodgers. “It’s kind of like, we had Joe Montana and we had Steve Young, and now it’s Jeff Garcia. ‘OK, Jeff, let’s see what you can do.’ I think the expectations are pretty unrealistic. He’s got to embrace who he is and what he does well.

“Just have that same work ethic and passion that the other guys had. That doesn’t take a lot of talent. He’s got to go out there and get better at his craft. You can’t continue to make the same mistakes. If you go back and watch him in the next game, and he’s locking in on his receivers and he’s not taking the time to look out in front of a crossing route and he’s still making the same poor decisions, then you’ve got to have that conversation.

“But I think he’s got a chance to be a pretty special player.”
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Another former QB also chimes in>>

Dan Orlovsky, the former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst, was “really encouraged” by what he saw from Green Bay Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love to start the season.

With Love hitting some bumps in the road, what does Orlovsky want to see during the final 12 games, beginning next Sunday at the Denver Broncos?

“I think you want to see him be cleaner with his decision-making,” he told Packer Central this week. “He gets a little bit, I don’t want to say hoppy or bouncy, but a little bit of question mark with his feet. Sometimes, he gets to the back of his drop and it’s almost like a pop-up. It’s like, ‘What am I actually looking at?’ instead of watching a baseball pitcher throw a fastball.

“I want to see a little bit more confidence in what we’re looking for, cleaner eyes, cleaner decision-making, a little bit more rhythm and efficiency.”

Love’s debut as Aaron Rodgers’ replacement was impressive. He threw three touchdown passes and zero interceptions in a win at Chicago, three touchdown passes and zero interceptions in a narrow loss at Atlanta, and led a comeback from a 17-0 deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the New Orleans Saints.

The last two games, however, been a different story, with one touchdown and five interceptions in back-to-back losses to Detroit and Las Vegas.
“He came off of what he was looking like in the preseason,” Orlovsky said. “He looked really similar to the success he was having. The ball was going to the right place at the right time, was seeing the field really cleanly, used his legs when it was needed, was accurate and aggressive down the field, found the matchups at the right time, played on time on a consistent basis.

“The last two weeks, he lost some of that. He lost sight of some of the keys of the defense on where to go with the ball. He hasn’t seen the field clearly. Sometimes those balls have been tipped, sometimes those balls have been interceptions, sometimes those balls have been throwaways, even though some of people in the pass progression were open. I think they’ve got to get back to finding out why some of the stuff that happened early on has gone away over the last two weeks. There’s still a good amount to be encouraged by.”

What Orlovsky liked was how Love played aggressively but not recklessly, fit the ball into tight windows and used his legs to either extend plays or make positive plays on the run.

However, after opening with a 123.2 rating vs. the Bears and 113.5 vs. the Falcons, Love ranks 28th out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks in passer rating (77.3), 31st in interception percentage (3.7) and 33rd in completion percentage (55.6).

The speed of the game, which is something former MVP Rich Gannon pointed to in comparing it to a 16-year-old who just got his driver’s license, seems to be overwhelming at times, which has led to indecision, bad timing, missed opportunities and big mistakes.

Nothing indicates Love has made any progress over the last few games, but that’s not disconcerting to Orlovsky. Rather, it’s all part of the development of a young quarterback playing with a lot of young players as part of a lineup with a lot of moving parts.

“You go through so many waves in that league,” he said. “You’ve got to remember, this is the first time that Matt LaFleur has called plays for Jordan Love, so he’s trying to learn Jordan a little bit. This is the first time in four years that Matt’s calling playing for someone other than Aaron Rodgers, outside of that one start that he had. So, that’s part of it.
“There hasn’t been a ton of consistency with the people on the field [due to injuries]. This is the first amount of tape that teams have on Jordan. ‘Well, this kid likes to do this. This is what he’s good at. He struggles to see that.’ That’s why it takes so much time to really find out what you’re good at and not good at. There’s going to be some really good moments and then some moments that don’t look as good.”

One of those not-good moments came last week against the Raiders, with Love throwing three interceptions in a 17-13 loss against a team with only one impact defensive player on the field and two starting defensive backs out with injuries.

While it’s true Love didn’t play well, it’s also true that receiver Romeo Doubs and tight end Luke Musgrave dropped passes on the final drive. So, rather than a chance to throw the game-winning touchdown pass, Love threw the game-ending interception.

“If those balls get caught, what’s the situation? It may not come down to, ‘Oh, my gosh, a third interception to end the game. This kid stinks,’” Orlovsky said.

This bye week has given LaFleur time to find some answers and Love a moment to exhale before getting back into the grind.

Love entered the season with the unbridled support of his teammates, who went out of their way to make it clear they were all-in on Love following the offseason trade of Rodgers, the four-time MVP and franchise icon.

Now what? Against Detroit, the Packers had negative net passing yards while trailing by three touchdowns. Against Las Vegas, even a decent performance would have been enough to win the game given how well Green Bay’s defense played.

“The mind-set coming off of that is something to really pay attention to,” Orlovsky said. “It’s really hard when you have to walk into that locker room of grown men who are so used to winning in that place and you being the new guy, essentially, in that role and you being part of the reason why the loss happens. That’s hard. You’ve got to have really thick skin and a big-boy mentality and outgrind it.

“There’s a lot to like. I’m super-interested to see what he looks like next week.”
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Our DC is what we knew he was...a fraud.

Our OL is/was overrated. Losing a franchise LT really hurts. Losing a high end guard next to him hurts more. Our center is, uh, maybe average. Maybe. Our RG is a bright spot on the line and he's not even very good, he's just okay. Our RT lacks the power to anchor, but still looks good.

Our playmakers are all very young. Watson still isn't 100% and even when he will be 100%, he just doesn't attack the ball like you would expect from someone with his size and athletic ability.

The defense comes and goes. Quay was looking great, then he's injured. Campbell was doing well, then injured. JA has a bad back. Savage is just plain meh. Ford is a ST guy who can't cover.

The bright spot in the whole thing is Carlson. And maybe Gary. Though nobody should ever confuse Gary with Nick Bosa, let alone Max Crosby.

So it's going to be a long year and I might DVR more games than I watch.
 
Love is only one of 11 guys out there on offense. If the other 10 don't do their job, how can Love overcome it? Too many injuries, and too many weak players in key positions because of it. Love isn't losing games. The Packers are.
 
TW said:
Love is only one of 11 guys out there on offense. If the other 10 don't do their job, how can Love overcome it? Too many injuries, and too many weak players in key positions because of it. Love isn't losing games. The Packers are.
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Their run game doesn't exist but there are minimal opportunities for him to go down field as well. Combination of passive playcalling, having to leave extra guys in to block and Love missing when they try. When your TE and RB both chip the edge rusher that is two guys either not on a route or requiring an extra second to do so.

It sounds crazy at 2-3, but honestly they aren't going to win much of anything this year so I'd almost prefer they just prioritize trying to figure out what Love can do, and find a downfield offense above winning. They need to get Love and all those young WRs going.
 
Mark87 said:
I've had enough of the negative Nancy bullcrap. Some of you are nitpicking for the hell of it. STOP.
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100%, there is more than enough room for constructive criticism but some of this has been nothing more then a pile on. If we were 0-5 yeah maybe but 2-3 on a bye week is the perfect time to turn it around.

Not sure many teams lose the left side of the OL, have their best CB banged up and playing hurt, don't have their best RB and lose 4-5 other starters and key players so roughly 6-8 a game and actually function better?

No that's not an excuse that's a fact. Because some of you don't want to hear doesn't make it not so. On that note it's a bye week.

Go enjoy the fall weather this weekend !!
 
44blitz said:
100%, there is more than enough room for constructive criticism but some of this has been nothing more then a pile on. If we were 0-5 yeah maybe but 2-3 on a bye week is the perfect time to turn it around.

Not sure many teams lose the left side of the OL, have their best CB banged up and playing hurt, don't have their best RB and lose 4-5 other starters and key players so roughly 6-8 a game and actually function better?

No that's not an excuse that's a fact. Because some of you don't want to hear doesn't make it not so. On that note it's a bye week.

Go enjoy the fall weather this weekend !!
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It may sound too obvious, and so be it, but really Love's success starts and ends with the OL.

Losing what they thought was going to be an All-pro LT for the season, then seeing a multi-Pro bowl LG go down for weeks, having Myers who is OK at best, and a still raw RT in Tom is where much of these issues are with Love's timing and feeling comfortable in the pocket.

Particularly in the interior OL has been brutal in the past 3 weeks. Fix the OL and get Jones back and Love will look much better.

Gute, and before him Ted, invested a lot of day 1 capital on the defense in draft after draft the past few years. I fully believe Gute feels this season and the next is going to be spent rebuilding this roster and revamping this team.

He has to invest day 1 and 2 picks on the offense moving forward. That probably means spending high picks at T, Center, and RB. Surround Jordan with good players and he will look that much better. It's not that hard to figure out.
 
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