Packers Face Difficult Analysis With Love

When the Green Bay Packers pass judgment on Jordan Love's preseason, his supporting cast will have to be part of the consideration.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – As was the case at just about every practice in May, June and August, Jordan Love’s body of work during Saturday’s preseason game included some good and some bad.

Based on a scant resume, and whatever growth happens over the next four-plus months, the Green Bay Packers might have to decide whether Love is fit to be the team’s quarterback of the future.

In a 19-0 loss at the Buffalo Bills to close the exhibition slate, Love got the ball for four possessions. None of those possessions ended in the end zone. He threw one interception from just outside the red zone and almost threw another while in the red zone.

On the other hand, leading an offense that included one sure-fire starter (rookie center Josh Myers), one possible starter (guard Lucas Patrick) and one other front-line offensive player (running back AJ Dillon), Love generally moved the ball up and down the field against a defense manned mostly by starters.

“The whole point of the preseason is to come out here and take advantage of the opportunity we got, but I think I did what I needed to do,” Love told reporters after going 12-of-18 passing for 149 yards with one interception and a 69.0 passer rating. “There’s a couple of bad plays that I can learn from and know that I can’t make those mistakes again.”

There were two particularly bad plays.

After Green Bay’s first drive died on Love’s incompletion on fourth-and-goal at the 1, Love pushed the Packers right back into scoring position. A big play was a fourth-and-1 in which Love rolled out to his right, scanned through his options and hit tight end Dominique Dafney for a catch-and-run gain of 23 yards to the Bills’ 21. On the next play, though, Love was pressured and threw an up-for-grabs heave into the end zone that was intercepted by Micah Hyde.

From one perspective, it was a teachable moment. Love was outside the pocket and could have thrown the ball away and lined up for second down. Instead, he chucked the ball deep and didn’t have the arm strength to get the ball all the way to the back of the end zone to Malik Taylor. From another perspective, this was a quarterback who threw an NCAA-high 17 interceptions during his final season at Utah State in 2019. To be sure, Love was dealing with a new coaching staff and an almost entirely new offense in 2019. Similarly, he was playing with a bunch of backups on Saturday as well as in the first preseason game against Houston.

“I think you have to experience those and go through those in a game setting to really learn from them,” coach Matt LaFleur said, “so I’m pretty certain that he will learn from those mistakes and hopefully he doesn't repeat them.”

The problem is, Love repeated that mistake. On third-and-goal from the 10 on the next possession, Love faced immediate pressure and was almost intercepted.

Where there was growth is the confidence with which Love played. After Love’s preseason debut vs. the Texans, LaFleur wanted Love to “let it rip” more often. Love did that against Buffalo, even after missing last week’s practices and game with what he called a strained rotator cuff.

Perhaps Love’s best drive was the 2-minute drill at the end of the first half. He overcame a second-and-14 stemming from a bad shotgun snap. He coaxed the Bills offside twice, including a beauty of a 21-yard completion to Taylor on a free play. He also scrambled for 10 yards.

“I thought there were a lot of good things to build upon,” LaFleur said.

Of course, even in the case of a legend like Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback is only as good as the supporting cast. On the opening drive, Dillon might have plowed his way into the end zone on third-and-goal from the 1 had tight end Jace Sternberger not missed his block. On the second and third drives, Love might not have thrown the ball into traffic had he been protected by the No. 1 offensive line.

So, would Love had performed at a winning level with Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Allen Lazard running routes? With Marcedes Lewis blocking at the goal line? With David Bakhtiari at left tackle? The obvious answer is yes.

What is unanswerable is the degree of improvement. Can the Packers win with Love if Rodgers doesn’t return in 2022? That might be what general manager Brian Gutekunst and LaFleur will have to determine after the season.

That’s a question for another day, though. When the team returns to practice next week, the focus will be on getting ready for Week 1 at New Orleans.

“I’m going to be the backup quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, back up Aaron Rodgers as best I can, and help him,” Love, with a 68.6 percent completion rate and 89.1 passer rating in two preseason appearances, said. “He’s going to go out there and do great things this season. Just trying to do whatever I can to get him ready for the season, get him ready each week and just do my job. Obviously, being a backup, you’ve still got to be ready. Even as No. 3, you’ve got to be ready every day in our position, so keep doing what I’m doing.”