Packers’ Dismal Performance vs. Raiders Raises Questions About Love, LaFleur
GREEN BAY, Wis. – With a first-year starting quarterback throwing to the youngest fleet of pass-catchers in the NFL, everyone knew the Green Bay Packers’ offense would be a work in progress this season.
Following a 17-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, the progress has been nonexistent.
Five games into the Jordan Love era, Green Bay’s offense has no identity. It has no go-to concept. No ability to create big plays but also no ability to drive the ball methodically. Yes, the Packers miss running back Aaron Jones, but they just scored 13 points against a defense with two starting cornerbacks on the inactives list and only one impact player on the field.
Given the teams’ shared offensive philosophies, it was striking to watch the San Francisco 49ers dismantle the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. The 49ers’ quarterback, Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy, is playing like an MVP. Yes, he’s surrounded by proven playmakers. Yes, he’s playing behind a high-quality offensive line.
But coach Kyle Shanahan had players running free through the vaunted Cowboys defense. And when the Cowboys had the coverage, Purdy made the play, anyway, as the 49ers rolled to a 42-10 win. The second-year quarterback, with 306 passing attempts on his resume, has thrown nine touchdown passes and zero interceptions while completing 72.1 percent of his passes this season.
The Packers didn’t have receivers running through the Raiders’ secondary on Monday night, just like they didn’t have an abundance of open receivers against the Lions, Saints and Falcons.
The numerical comparison between is wild.
Through Week 5, Purdy ranks second in completion percentage, second in yards per attempt, first in interceptions and first in passer rating. Of 33 qualifying quarterbacks, Love ranks 33rd in completion percentage, 22nd in yards per attempt, 29th in interceptions and 28th in passer rating.
Packers QB Jordan Love's completion rate went from bad to worse vs. the Raiders.
Photo by Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA Today Sports Images
For his career, Purdy has thrown four interceptions. Love has thrown five the last two weeks. In 10 career starts, Purdy posted a passer rating of 110-plus in eight and has never been worse than 93.1. In five starts this year, Love has gone from ratings of 123.2 vs. Chicago and 113.5 vs. Atlanta to 66.4 vs. New Orleans, 69.9 vs. Detroit and 32.2 vs. Las Vegas.
Love, of course, is the former first-round pick who spent three years getting ready behind Aaron Rodgers. Purdy is the final pick of the 2022 draft who is starting only because Trey Lance was a bust.
You wouldn’t know it. Based purely on results – and football is a results-oriented business – you would guess Purdy is the wunderkind who was blessed with talent and a remarkable learning opportunity and Love is starting only because someone needs to be the place-holder until next year’s draft.
This isn’t meant to bash Love. A quarterback needs help from everyone around him, including a plan on how to handle the opponent's top pass rusher. Purdy has a Hall of Fame-worthy left tackle and running back and veteran pass-catchers. Love’s Hall of Fame-worthy left tackle is on injured reserve again, his star running back is hurt again and his pass-catchers are all rookies and second-year players.
So, comparing supporting casts is like comparing ahi tuna to what comes out of the Chicken of the Sea package in the canned-goods aisle.
Nonetheless, the lack of tangible improvement is disconcerting, to state the obvious. Given that the offense’s only progress seems to be backward, it is at least fair to wonder if Love is the wrong man for the job or if LaFleur the wrong man to coach him for the job.
Through four games, no quarterback pushed the ball downfield more than Love. The aggressive approach didn’t work, especially when defensive backs stopped getting called for pass interference.
So, Love and LaFleur did a 180-degree shift vs. the Raiders. According to ESPN, only 10 of Love’s 30 pass attempts went more than 5 yards downfield. The results couldn’t have been worse, with more interceptions (three) than completions (two). Even with the more conservative approach, Love’s 53.3 percent completion rate actually lowered his league-worst number.
If not for a coverage bust on the 77-yard completion to Christian Watson, Monday’s performance would have gone from dismal to disaster.
LaFleur and the coaching staff had four extra days to put together not just a winning game plan to beat one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL. It had four extra days to reboot the offense to get Love playing at a winning level.
It failed.
The bye week awaits, an opportunity for the Packers to find the answers that evaded them last week. Do the Packers have the right men for the most important jobs on the team?
We’re about to find out.
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