Falcons’ Jerry Gray Ready for Packers QB Jordan Love
GREEN BAY, Wis. – As secondary coach of the Green Bay Packers for three seasons, Jerry Gray watched the growth of Jordan Love on the practice field on a daily basis. On Sunday, Gray hopes to use his insight against Love and Co. as the Atlanta Falcons’ assistant head coach/defense.
“I was over there for three years, so I got a chance to watch him mature and grow,” Gray told Falcons beat reporters this week. “He’s really not a rookie in years. He’s actually way above that. You watch him in practice, and he goes through the reads, he understands what he’s supposed to do, he gets rid of the football.
“When I watched the Chicago game, I wasn’t surprised that he was getting rid of the football because he’s already been doing it for three years. This is nothing new.”
Gray, a four-time Pro Bowler during his playing days, served as the Packers’ secondary coach from 2020 through 2022. His players called him “Coach OG” – short for Original Gangsta.
“OG just knows ball,” cornerback Rasul Douglas, who has credited Gray for raising his game to new heights, said this week.
In his regular-season debut, Gray and defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen watched their unit crash Bryce Young’s rookie party. The No. 1 pick of the 2023 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers, Young completed 20-of-38 passes for just 146 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions as Atlanta won 24-10.
While Love exited Week 1 ranked No. 1 in the NFL with a 123.2 passer rating, Young was 30th out of 32 in passer rating (48.8), completion percentage (52.6) and yards per attempt (3.84).
A big difference between Love and Young, beyond the obvious of experience, was pressure. According to PFF, Young was pressured on 45.2 percent of his dropbacks and was 5-of-15 passing in those situations. Love was pressured on 20.0 percent of his dropbacks and was 1-of-3 passing.
Gray knows that’s going to be a big deal against Love, who carved up the Bears from a clean pocket.
Former Packers assistant Jerry Gray has a new role with the Falcons.
Photo courtesy Atlanta Falcons
“The biggest thing is when you get ready to go against him, what can we do to make him hold it a little so the rush can get there?” Gray said. “Do things like that and that’ll help our team going against a guy that I’ve got a little insight on.”
One more critical set of numbers from Week 1: Young was 18-of-19 on passes thrown within 9 yards of the line of scrimmage but 2-of-8 from 10 to 19 yards and 0-for-2 on passes thrown 20-plus yards, according to Pro Football Focus. On the other hand, Love was 4-of-7 from 10 to 19 yards and 1-of-4 from 20-plus yards.
“One of the things we try to do is eliminate explosive plays,” Gray said. “When you take a look at the NFL, explosive plays tend to end up being losses for you if you give up too many. We’re real conscious of that as defensive backs and understanding that if you cut down explosive plays and make the team drive the long haul, you’ve got better chances of making plays.”
While Aaron Rodgers no longer is Green Bay’s quarterback, “the coaching staff is still there,” as Gray said. The cat-and-mouse game between Gray and Packers coach Matt LaFleur will add a little extra flavor in this matchup between the Packers, who scored the second-most points in the NFL in Week 1, and the Falcons, who gave up the fifth-fewest.
“I’m sure there is,” an advantage for Gray, LaFleur said. “He’s seen a lot of our concepts and he might throw some wrinkles in there.”
LaFleur, though, won’t go down the rabbit hole of trying to guess how Gray might attack a specific concept and coming up with his own wrinkle.
“I try not to overthink it, to be honest with you,” LaFleur said. “You just kind of go out there and attack the best way you think that you can attack somebody. I don’t spend too much time, ‘Well, hey, he knows we like this, so we’ve got to …’ You can kind of chase your tail doing that.”
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