The Green Bay Packers’ depths of five weeks ago seemed more like five months ago while watching Jordan Love shred the Detroit Lions on Thursday.
That’s how fast things can change in the NFL.
Of course, one really good game does not a good quarterback make. The only way to rank among the league’s best is to do it consistently over a long stretch of time.
But the
Packers’ 29-22 upset win over 7½-point favorites makes four straight games now where Love has played better than the previous week. And this one, the best yet of Love’s young career as a starter, was in front of a Thanksgiving Day national TV audience and against the best team in the NFC North Division. If the Packers are heartened by Love’s prospects after Thursday’s winning performance, it shouldn’t be just that he played an excellent game (125.5 rating, three touchdowns, no interceptions) against a good team in a hostile environment. It’s that Thursday was continuation of a four-game trend in which Love has put up a 103.1 rating (eight touchdown passes, two interceptions), and the Packers are 3-1.
“He’s playing with so much confidence,” left guard Elgton Jenkins said after the game. “You can tell the way he’s talking in the huddle, what he’s saying, like, ‘Give me time, this is what’s going to happen.’ That’s some of the same things 12 (i.e., Aaron Rodgers) would say, ‘Just, give me time and this is what’s gonna go down.’ It gives you confidence he knows what’s going on. It’s definitely a big difference seeing so much growth in him in these last two months.”
Watching Love throw strikes and escape trouble Thursday was a little like watching Rodgers and Brett Favre on their good days at the start of their careers. Now, to be absolutely clear, that’s not a prediction Love will be as good as them. It’s way early for that kind of talk. But what’s obvious is Love’s command and play speed have picked up in recent weeks as his game snaps have accrued and the young pass-catching crew around him has grown up.
Passes that were either off target or not caught earlier in the season have more often been completions lately, and were even more so Thursday. It started with
Christian Watson’s contested 53-yard reception on the game’s first play and included several deft throws, such as to Watson in the corner of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and multiple connections with Watson (five receptions for 94 yards), Romeo Doubs (three for 37), Jayden Reed (four for 34) and Malik Heath (four for 46).
“I think it’s night and day,” coach Matt LaFleur said of Love’s command Thursday compared to earlier in the season. “I mean, I don’t know how you guys feel, I’d have to go back and look at it. But certainly, it certainly appears that way. It’s given us a lot of confidence to be a little more aggressive with some of the calls.”
This performance by Love and the Packers overall surely will get the attention of the rest of the NFL, being on national TV and all. It was especially eye-catching that LaFleur and Co. did it with a scary inactive list that included six injured starters or important rotational players (Jaire Alexander, De’Vondre Campbell and Rudy Ford on defense, Aaron Jones, Luke Musgrave and Dontayvion Wicks on offense).
Earlier in the season, playing without Jones meant disaster for the Packers offense. But the Packers put up 377 yards and 23 points (the other six came on safety Jonathan Owens’ fumble return for a touchdown) without Jones on Thursday. Suddenly, general manager Brian Gutekunst’s plan for going young at receiver and tight end, with the idea they’d grow up with Love, isn’t looking so stupid. That approach made for a really tough October for everybody in the Packers football operations. For a while there, the Packers were among the worst offenses in the league.
But they’re looking like a real offense now. The moved the ball up and down the field Thursday, even when they weren’t scoring, and had nary a three-and-out. Love found whomever was open (22-for-32 passing) and escaped trouble for completions or sack-saving throwaways when plays broke down.
“The receivers are starting to understand exactly the timing of plays,” Love said. “I’m having better feel and timing of plays, when they’re getting open for certain looks, like, just when and where they need to be.”
Said LaFleur: “I thought (Love) was awesome the entire game. He is a cool customer, and you can have really good conversations with him. I just never see him get too high or too low, whether it’s going good or not so good. He’s just a guy that’s really matured over these last four years.”
The Packers’ win also will fuel playoff talk that would have been absurd several weeks ago. The Packers at 5-6 and just won a game nobody expected them to win and are in the running for that seventh and final playoff spot. At least for now.
But it’s worth remembering they’re still a very young team, even if on a recent upswing. There’s a good chance they’ll still have some big ups and downs in the final seven weeks of the season. The playoff talk probably should wait until Christmas.
But this season was always going to be more about Jordan Love than anything. Does he have what it takes to be a winning quarterback in this league? Is he a keeper?
No one game can answer that. But the Packers have to be feeling a lot better about him based on what they’ve seen over the past month.
