Paul Bretl | 1/14/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jordan Love’s second year as the starting quarterback for the Packers was a bit of a rollercoaster ride.
Injuries during the first half of the season forced him to miss time and hampered his play, to a degree. Out of the play, we saw an impressive stretch from Weeks 11-15 where Love and the offense were heating up with five straight 30-plus point performances, only for both to cool off drastically during the team’s final three games of the season.
So what’s next for Love as he enters his sixth NFL season in 2025 and his third as the Packers’ quarterback? Well, there’s no one answer, but two things that Matt LaFleur described on Tuesday as areas of emphasis for Love will be on his footwork, specifically the consistency of it on certain plays, along with being a more vocal leader.
Footwork is the foundation for a quarterback’s success on any given play. As quarterbacks coach Tom Clements has said previously, he usually has a good idea of how the pass turned out by watching the quarterback’s footwork.
Footwork, the cornerstone of a quarterback’s performance, is more than just steps. It’s about executing the right drop to ensure timely throws, maintaining balance, and keeping the feet in constant motion. This synchronized movement with the quarterback’s eyes is crucial for a successful play. Any deviation from this can disrupt the quarterback’s mechanics, leading to inaccurate passes or mistimed plays.
In the Philadelphia game, specifically, LaFleur mentioned that on certain drops, Love’s footwork got a little loose, which can disrupt the timing and rhythm of the passing play, especially when the ball is supposed to be out quickly. This also wasn’t the first time throughout the season that this happened either. As Love navigated a knee and groin injury during the first half of the year, the lack of practice time hurt some of those fundamental components of playing the position.
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“I think just the one thing I did talk to him about was just the consistency of his footwork on some of these plays,” LaFleur said on Tuesday. “I think he would be the first to tell you the same thing because there were some instances throughout the course of the season and specifically in this last game where the rhythm and timing, especially when you have a rhythm play, like quick game for example, just that left-right footwork that we take just hitting your back foot and letting it rip.
“Or if you do take a hitch, you gotta take your checkdown, typically, or progress on. So I would say that, because I think that’s the foundation of great quarterback play is the fundamentals, the techniques, the footwork.”
Like any young player who steps into a more prominent role, Love has made strides when it comes to being a leader on this team. But as LaFleur said, there’s more out there for the quarterback in that regard, which includes being more vocal when things aren’t going how they should be.
A big contract or being the quarterback doesn’t necessarily make someone a leader. Now, I’m sure the hope internally for organizations is that element is a part of the equation, but it’s not a given either. However, with Love, beyond those aspects, he’s built up that emotional bank account within the locker room. He’s well respected, his even-keeled and relateable demeanor doesn’t display his status as the franchise quarterback, and he works relentlessly each day, which his teammates see.
That equity that he’s built up over time puts him in a position to be more vocal when things aren’t going right, to outwardly correct mistakes that are taking place, and to reset the standard if he’s sees that it’s slipping.
“I think the next step is just to continue to evolve as a vocal leader,” LaFleur said. “I think that just kind of comes with the position naturally. I think he’s taken steps to get there but I think he can really demand a lot because the locker room respects him and they respect him not only as a person but by the work he puts in. He’s a grinder. He’s one of the guys; I think that’s one of his best qualities is he is one of the guys.
“But they all respect him but I think, when things aren’t quite right, I think he can voice that, as well. When guys aren’t quite doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and he’s one of the guys to talk to about that. I just think it means more when it comes from your quarterback than it does from me or one of our other coaches.”
In a season that ended the way the Packers did, it can be easy to focus in on the negatives or what didn’t go right. But things certainly weren’t all bad for this Packers team either. They won 11 games, improving by two full wins over last year’s team, the defense took a big step in the first year under Jeff Hafley, and the offense was top 10 in scoring.
With Love specifically, he again showcased that he can operate at a high level–although, admittedly, the consistency of that is still needed–his decision-making greatly improved as the season went on, and he’s not easily rattled, even when down multiple scores.
However, where Love perhaps made the biggest stride this season was in his ability to avoid sacks and negative plays–something that LaFleur was really impressed by.
“I thought there was a lot of great moments,” said LaFleur of Love’s play. “Every year’s going to be a little bit different. The one thing that I’m so impressed by when I watch him play is his ability to avoid the sacks. There was many times, just his ability to slide in the pocket, manipulate that pocket, know where his checkdowns are and his outlets, or run up in the pocket. I think he’s got a really good grasp for that, really good feel, because you never want quarterbacks looking at the rush; you want their eyes downfield and you’ve got to feel that.”
What the Packers couldn’t overcome against the NFC’s top opponents this season were the slow starts. A lack of execution and self-inflicted mistakes were often the root cause behind those woes, but as far as what contributed to those issues over and over again, that’s still an answer the Packers are searching for.
As LaFleur will often point out, the quarterback gets all the credit when the team wins and all the blame when the team loses, but in both instances, it’s a group effort to get to either of those points.
Throughout LaFleur’s conversation with the media on Tuesday, he referenced things that went wrong around Love against the Eagles that contributed to the offensive struggles. On the interception by Darius Slay, LaFleur noted that the receiver needed to do a better job of stacking the defender to help create a more open throwing window.
On the interception over the middle, the receiver was supposed to break in at 20 yards from the line of scrimmage but instead did so at 15 yards, throwing off the entire play design. LaFleur also noted the litany of dropped passes throughout the season, and that Love also dealt with steady pressure from the Eagles’ four-man front as well.
Now, none of that is to absolve Love of his up and down play this season. When asked if Love needed to perform better, without hesitating, LaFleur said, “absolutely.” But those examples provided by LaFleur provide context around the issues that the Packers’ offense ran into and showcase that it wasn’t any one player behind it all, but it was on everyone.
“You’ve got to maximize all your opportunities,” LaFleur said of the offense’s struggles. “You’ve got to execute. I can tell you specifically since it’s so fresh this last game, we didn’t do a great job, like there was pressure all day in the pocket in the passing game. There were some runs, there were some bad looks that we ran into, and there were other times when we had some running lanes and we don’t win our one-on-one, we don’t win our block. And that’s football. We’ve just got to collectively as a group – all of us, myself as much as anybody – we’ve got to be better.”
Growth, whether that be for an NFL quarterback or really anything we do in life, isn’t linear. Love’s play during the second half of the 2023 season wasn’t going to become his floor, just like his play over the final three games of this season isn’t his ceiling. Love is still an “ascending” player, as LaFleur said.
There are things to work on, areas that must improve if this team is going to prove that they can hang with the NFC’s best, and accomplishing that doesn’t only fall on Love’s shoulders, but across the offensive side of the ball the Packers have to improve.
“We gotta play better in those moments,” said LaFleur. “We can’t have the critical turnovers. We need everybody on the details. Because, I said this to our team for sure yesterday, but the details usually is what separates. It separates good from great and we have got to be on top of our details, everybody doing their individual whatever they’re asked to do. They’ve got to do their 1/11th at a high level, otherwise it’s hard to win those games.”