Packers’ Jordan Love Has One of Greatest Playoff Debuts Ever
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers was brilliant in his NFL playoffs debut at the Arizona Cardinals in 2009, but he was intercepted on the first play and fumbled on the last.
Jordan Love was brilliant from start to finish in a blowout victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
Well, almost the finish.
When Love threw a touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs with about 10 minutes to go to give the Packers a 48-16 lead, he was given a seat on the bench with a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
When the Cowboys scored back-to-back touchdowns to sort of get back in the game, coach Matt LaFleur put Love and the starters back in the game. A third-down pass to Tucker Kraft fell incomplete. So long, perfect rating.
Love finished the day 16-of-21 passing for 272 yards and three touchdowns. His passer rating was 157.2. That’s tied for the best debut in NFL history with Houston Texans rookie C.J. Stroud, who was 16-of-21 passing for 274 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday against Cleveland. Stroud beat Love by 2 yards but the rating was the same: 157.24206349206352.
In playoff history, that rating is fourth-best all-time. Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Peyton Manning had perfect marks of 158.3.
“Man, Jordan Love, wow,” LaFleur said. “That’s about all I can say is ‘wow.’ Just so proud and happy for him. He’s a dude. He is a real dude.”
Dude, Love is on some sort of roll.
He’s had a passer rating of at least 108 in eight of his last nine games. During those last nine games, Love has 21 touchdown passes and one interception. During the team’s four-game winning streak, Love has 10 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Love wouldn’t take an ounce of credit.
“It started up front,” Love said. “It started with the run game, pass protection, and O-line stepped up big. They had a great game. Kept me clean all night, and the running game, that was a huge point for us of emphasis coming into the game. We were going to establish the run early and that’s what we did.”
While Love wasn’t sacked, the pass protection wasn’t flawless. However, seemingly every time he faced pressure, he either maneuvered out of harm’s way or drifted back just a bit to deliver a strike.
On the opening drive, after Aaron Jones was dropped for a loss of 3, Love connected with Romeo Doubs for a gain of 22 despite getting hit by Osa Odighizuwa. That set the stage for the first of Jones’ touchdowns. On the second possession, Love extended the play to the right and hit Doubs for 26 on third-and-9. On the third drive following Jaire Alexander’s interception, Love hit Doubs for 15 on second-and-goal from the 16. Jones scored on the next play to make it 14-0.
On the fourth drive, Love converted three times on third down. On third-and-7 from the 20, Love ripped a touchdown pass to Wicks against a six-man pressure to make it 20-0. The line picked it up just lone enough for Wicks to beat Stephon Gilmore on a corner-post.
“The touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks, it was an all-out look,” LaFleur said. “For him to hang in there and get that throw, and Wicks made a hell of a catch. Those are things you can try to coach it but what a moment for him. To me, that was a big-time play.”
On the first possession of the second half, Love got hammered by Micah Parsons but not before finding Doubs for 46. That set up Jones for his third touchdown to extend the lead to 34-10.
Late in the third quarter, Love’s easy touchdown pass to a wide-open Luke Musgrave made it 41-16. Early in the fourth quarter, Love connected with Doubs on fourth-and-goal from the 2 to build the lead to 48-16. At that point, Love’s rating was 158.3.
By rating, it was the best playoffs performance in franchise history, beating Lynn Dickey’s 150.4 vs. St. Louis in 1982, Bart Starr’s 143.5 in the legendary championship win at Dallas in 1966, Brett Favre’s 137.6 against Seattle in 2007 and Rodgers’ 136.8 victory at Atlanta on the way to the Super Bowl.
By the official stats, Love was hit only three times by Cowboys defenders. The results: 22 yards to Doubs, 26 yards to Doubs and 46 yards to Doubs. It was quarterbacking at its highest level.
“I’m just playing quarterback,” Love said. “There’s always going to be a rush there, trying to buy as much time as possible to get my read off and be able to get the ball off. So, I think that’s just playing quarterback. You’ve got to stand in there, take a couple hits now and then. But just trying to get the ball off.”
