With Love, Here Comes the Blitz

Defenses just didn’t blitz Aaron Rodgers over the years. It’s going to be a different story for the Jordan Love-led Packers in 2023.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
May 28, 2023 9:33 AM EDT
Original:
May 27, 2023

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With Aaron Rodgers at quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, the typical defensive coordinator – we’ll call him Baskin Robbins – went vanilla.

Most defensive coordinators are hesitant to blitz talented, veteran quarterbacks. Rodgers was just too smart to blitz with regularity. He’d see what was coming, adjust accordingly and either complete a short pass at the snap or strike for a big play.

According to Sports Info Solutions, opponents blitzed 21 percent of the time last season. That was the seventh-lowest rate in the NFL. Week after week, whether it was Rodgers or offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, they’d talk about defenses playing one way all season but taking a much more conservative approach against the Packers.

It’s probably going to be an ice cream parlor of flavors in 2023, with the entire menu of blitzes being thrown at new starting quarterback Jordan Love.

“Probably see more,” venerable quarterbacks coach Tom Clemens said.

So, Love will face more than just the pressure of replacing a legend. He’ll face the physical pressure of defenses testing the unproven quarterback.

“We work on recognizing what the pressures are and who’s the guy to get it to if it has to come out quick,” Clements continued. “You have to be able see things process it and make a quick decision. So, when things are flying around and guys are blitzing, that’s when it becomes most important.”

Clements had it easy with Rodgers, who’d seen and beaten every blitz imaginable throughout his brilliant career.

Against the blitz in 2022, Rodgers’ passer rating vs. the blitz was 97.1 compared to 88.5 when not blitzed, according to Pro Football Focus. In 2021, Rodgers’ rating vs. the blitz was 113.5 compared to 109.7 when not blitzed.

Love played significant snaps in two games in 2021. With Rodgers out with COVID, the Chiefs beat the Packers 13-7. Love was blitzed on 53.8 percent of his dropbacks and was a dreadful 7-of-18 passing. In the meaningless finale at Detroit, Love played the second half alongside a bunch of backups. He was much better vs. the blitz in that game, with the caveat of facing a much worse defense. Blitzed on half his dropbacks, he went 8-of-10.

Still, PFF’s data shows a sharp contrast in the season-long numbers in 2021. Against the blitz, he completed 53.3 percent of his throws, averaged 3.7 yards per attempt and had a 59.3 rating. When not blitzed, he completed 62.5 percent of his throws, averaged 9.3 yards per attempt and fashioned a 77.5 rating.

Love saw significant action in only one game in 2022. That was his nine-pass performance at Philadelphia. Love was sharp but the game was essentially over when he got in the game. On both of his possessions, the Packers were down by two scores, so the Eagles mostly played vanilla. They blitzed him one time – the 63-yard catch-and-run touchdown to Christian Watson. Otherwise, Love’s other action in 2022 came in garbage time. He was blitzed just once on his other 12 dropbacks, a 4-yard completion.

The expectation entering 2023 is defenses will blitz – perhaps a lot – to see if Love is sharp enough mentally and physically.

A big focus, especially in training camp, will be throwing the kitchen sink at Love to get him ready.

“It’s a process,” Clements said. “You see it on film. You walk through the blitzes, so you understand where you’re vulnerable, where you’re not vulnerable. Then you do them full speed and you just have to react, and just keep doing that and doing that. It’s like anything else, the more you do it, the more comfortable you are doing it and the better you should be doing it.”

Not just surviving against the blitz but thriving will be a team-wide effort. Rodgers carved up blitzes with so many wink-and-nod adjustments. Love, obviously, isn’t going to have that chemistry with and experience alongside the likes of Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and all the rookies.

So, while Love needs to be sharp mentally, everyone else has to be on the same page, too, in what they’re seeing and how they’re adjusting.

“That’s going to be a big thing to see what’s going to happen,” Stenavich said. “Typically, if you handle pressure well, you don’t see it as much. So, it’s going to be one thing we’re going to emphasize in the offseason – blitz periods, things like that, where we can get pressure on us and know how to pick things up, know how to handle stuff.

“The good news is we have a lot of experience on the offensive line, our backs are very experienced, so I’m pretty confident that we’ll be able to handle things like that, the pressure.”