Packers’ Young Receivers Factor Into Jordan Love’s NFL-Worst Completion Percentage
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements says Jordan Love is an “accurate” passer.
With the lowest completion percentage in the NFL, there’s no evidence to support that statement. There are reasons, though.
Love is throwing passes to the least-experienced group of receivers and tight ends in the NFL, not just for this season but for many seasons (and perhaps every season). That was especially true for the first three games, when one of their so-called veterans, second-year receiver Christian Watson, was sidelined by a hamstring injury.
It’s not that rookies Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks and Luke Musgrave don’t know what they’re doing. However, in a timing-based passing offense, they’re just not always in the right spot at the right time.
“Sometimes, everything’s clean and they grade out well. Other times, whether it’s the coverage changing or maybe a look we didn’t see in practice that shows up, everybody being on the same page” is an issue,” receivers coach and passing-game coordinator Jason Vrable said.
“We’re playing fast, but then there’s the ability to play fast and also be exactly clean and be on the same vision as the QB at times. Those are just details we’ve got clean up as a unit in the pass game, so we don’t have those lulls in the offense that have shown up throughout certain quarters. Just things we can clean up and, hopefully, over this week we continue to grow and get better and get on the same page.”
Playing quarterback is hard. It’s even harder when the first read on a play didn’t run his route to the right depth, the second read didn’t make the correct adjustment to the coverage and the third read got knocked off his path by the defender.
Packers QB Jordan Love hasn't always been on the same page with his receivers.
Photo by Mark Hoffman/USA Today Sports Images
Some of those mistakes can be cleaned up in-game via all the eyeballs on the sideline, including fellow quarterbacks Sean Clifford and Alex McGough, and in the coaches’ box. Others have to wait until postgame film sessions.
“That’s just something we’re going to have to work through,” Love said. “We’ve got a lot of young receivers, that’s not easy. We’ve got a big-volume offense. Things happen in the game – timing gets thrown off, routes get thrown off, you’re getting looks that you probably haven’t seen in practice. So, things happen.”
None of what’s gone wrong in the passing game, with Love entering Week 5 ranked 13th in attempts but third in incompletions, is a surprise. To expect Love to have the same connection with Romeo Doubs or Reed as Aaron Rodgers had with Davante Adams during his final two MVP seasons is ridiculous.
There’s no magic potion to fix the timing issues other than time on task.
“I look at it as all growing opportunities,” Love said. “We come back, we look at it, see what we might’ve done good, might’ve done bad, and just areas to work on, improve. We know it’s never going to be perfect. There’s always going to be things we can clean up, but that’s one thing that I think the more reps we get, the more chemistry we get running routes, that we’ll be on the same page knowing what we’ve got to do before.”
The Packers entered the season with only three experienced receivers: the 2022 draft picks Watson, Doubs and Samori Toure. Of those three, only Watson and Doubs had a significant role as rookies.
In that context, it’s interesting to note that Love has completed 62.5 percent of his passes to Doubs, 52.2 percent to Reed, 46.2 percent to Wicks, 44.4 percent to Toure and 0 percent to rookie Malik Heath.
Not that there’s been perfect harmony between Love and Doubs – they weren’t on the same page on a third-and-3 incompletion in the second quarter or a third-quarter interception – but at least there’s trust and chemistry.
“We’ve got to be able to be up there and, when the ball is snapped, be able to make our adjustments and play fast,” Vrable said. “I think the reps in practice have got to start carrying over for the games and just maybe a little bit more consistency.”
After the Thursday loss to Detroit, the Packers had a bonus practice this week. That means four practices rather than the usual three.
Maybe, some progress was made as the Packers get ready to face a Las Vegas Raiders defense that ranks 29th in opponent passer rating.
“I think it’s growing,” coach Matt LaFleur said of the passing-game chemistry. “I feel like we’ve had one of our better weeks of practice. You could really see it within the passing game. Hopefully, that goes and translates on Monday night.”
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