Green Bay, Wisconsin Jordan Love led the Green Bay Packers on an unexpected playoff run in his debut season as a starter, and his ability to generate huge plays while avoiding mistakes won him a $220 million contract extension.
Although Love is tied for the NFL lead in interceptions, he is still as explosive as ever a year later.
If Love doesn’t stop tossing the ball to the opposition, Green Bay won’t be able to go farther in the postseason this year.
“Definitely something I’m going to make a big focus on going forward, just finding ways to take care of the ball better,” Love said following Sunday’s 24–14 defeat to the Detroit Lions, in which he threw his second pick-6 of the season.
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As they enter their bye week, the Packers (6-3) sit one and a half games behind Minnesota (6-2) and Detroit (8-1) in the NFC North standings. In the home losses to the Vikings and Lions, Love threw four interceptions in total.
Last season, Love led Green Bay’s late-season surge by tossing 21 touchdown passes with just one interception across nine games, including a 48-32 shock of Dallas in the wild card round. In the second half of a 24–21 playoff defeat to San Francisco, Love was picked off twice.
This summer, the Packers gave Love a four-year contract extension as a sign of their confidence in him.
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Although Love is still making spectacular plays this season, his strategy is becoming more high-risk, high-reward.
Out of 579 throws, he had only 11 interceptions and 32 touchdowns at the end of the 2023 regular season. In just 240 attempts thus far this season, he has tallied 15 touchdown throws and 10 interceptions.
“It just comes down to staying true to my reads and when plays do go off schedule, just that fine line of being smart with the ball and not putting it in harm’s way and balance trying to make a play versus just throwing it away and live to fight another day,” Love stated. “I think it just comes down to staying true to my reads, like I said, making great decisions and just doing a better job being stingy with the ball.”
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Despite missing two whole games due to a knee ailment and about half of a third game due to a groin issue, Love is tied with Geno Smith of Seattle for the NFL lead in interceptions.
Lack of protection doesn’t appear to be the problem, considering he has thrown all many interceptions and only been fired seven times. Smith has been fired 28 times, for comparison.
Love is still a belief for the Packers. He ranks fourth in the league with an average of 12.4 yards per completion, demonstrating his big-play potential. To rank sixth, he is passing for 260 yards per game.
Brian Gutekunst, general manager, described him as “really unflappable.” “He is essentially the same person every day. He has excellent concentration. He has contributed significantly to our offense’s explosiveness at times, as well as at other times. As a football team, I believe we’re still working toward being a cohesive one that can win in many situations. However, I believe he has performed admirably.
Although Love’s aggression is appreciated, Packers coach Matt LaFleur admitted that the 26-year-old must consider the game context to know when to push the limit and when to exercise caution.
LaFleur used the Lions game’s pick-6 as an illustration.
With a 10-3 deficit and a second-and-two from their own 38-yard line, Love attempted to flip a short ball to running back Josh Jacobs while positioned in shotgun formation. With 32 seconds remaining in the half, Kerby Joseph picked it off and returned it 27 yards.
“I think he would agree with you that in that situation, he’s just got to throw the ball away and live to play the next down,” said LaFleur. His ability to make off-schedule plays and his perseverance in pursuing a play are, in my opinion, among his strong points, and I respect that. However, I believe that you just need to take the circumstances into account.
Love has demonstrated that he can improve throughout a season.
He threw just four touchdown passes and seven interceptions during their four-game losing skid last season, which saw their record fall to 2-5. Then, in the closing minutes, he performed better than any quarterback in the league.
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