The Lass Word: Riding the Love Roller Coaster
It's not all bad, just not good enough to win.
By KenLass
The inconsistency of quarterback Jordan Love must be driving the Green Bay Packers coaches crazy. A more thorough review of his game against the Vikings last Sunday clearly shows why they believe he can develop into a good to great player in this league. It also clearly shows he can make terrible decisions and throw puzzlingly inaccurate at times. The quality of his performance constantly changes, not only from drive to drive, but from play to play.
Against the Vikings the first year starter made a couple of plays that were downright Mahomes-esque. On Green Bay’s third offensive play of the game, Love was scrambling out to the right under pressure. Just before going out of bounds he unleashed a perfect throw 20 yards downfield to Romeo Doubs who made a leaping catch on the boundary. The play wound up getting called back when tackle Rasheed Walker was flagged for being downfield.
Facing fourth and seven in the fourth quarter, Doubs was in the clutches of pass rusher Harrison Phillips and falling down, but managed to sidearm a twelve yard throw to Dontayvion Wicks, even perfectly leading him to the left away from a defender. Those were outstanding plays.
There was more. In the second quarter Love rolled to his left off play action, but the Vikings were all over it. Love then whirled around, and falling backward, he looped a perfect throw across the backfield to Aaron Jones who ran for ten yards. In the third quarter, with a third and two, Love beautifully anticipated an out route by Doubs and led him precisely to the boundary for a nine yard conversion. It was the kind of play that is impossible to defend when it is executed like that.
But then there are maddening misses. They come on both short and long throws. He missed an identical out route to Doubs, throwing it short. He missed a wide open checkdown to Luke Musgrave. He overthrew long balls to Christian Watson and Doubs, both of whom had gotten behind the secondary and would have been sure touchdowns. On second and goal from the one yard line, he missed Watson who had a step crossing the back of the end zone.
A good example of Love’s hot and cold accuracy came in the third period, when Love nailed a pretty 31 yard shot to Jayden Reed, who had found a window in the deep zone. On the very next play, Reed was open on a short pass in the flat but Love threw behind him, completely missing the target. To be sure, the receivers made their share of mistakes. I counted at least five drops, one each by Jones, Watson, Doubs, Reed and Wicks. It’s also hard to know how many of Love’s misses were caused by receivers running the wrong route, although the plays I have mentioned were all instances where Love had a good view of what the receiver was doing.
After examining the entire game, there are a few observations that seem generally true:
-- Love operates better in no-huddle, up tempo offense. He moves better and sees the field better when he is running laterally or weaving up through the pocket. Some of his best throws come completely off script. That may be due to his scrambling buying extra time for receivers to get separation.
-- There seems to be an ongoing issue on flares and checkdowns. When receivers are looking over their back shoulders, Love often throws the ball in front of them, and vice versa. The result is either an incompletion, or the receiver has to lurch to catch the ball, ruining the timing of the play.
-- Love is too hesitant to pull it down and run. He will hold the ball and float out to the side with wide open field in front of him, but he waits and waits before deciding to run, often allowing the defense to come up and either tackle him or force him out of bounds. Coaches need to encourage him to use his legs more.
-- Love has the most downfield success with stop routes. He does well rifling the ball to receivers who are not in motion and presenting themselves facing him. He has much more difficulty being accurate when the target is moving. This is especially evident on the deep ball where he has difficulty “dropping it in the bucket”.
It was interesting to me that general manager Brian Gutekunst, at his press conference Wednesday, stopped short of giving Love a confident endorsement as the Packers quarterback of the future. For the first time, he made it clear that number ten is still auditioning for the job. “To me right now it’s just like we’re looking for the small improvements, the small victories and making sure we’re moving forward. If that stops happening, then there’s a problem” Gutekunst said. Translation: Love had better show improvement over the final ten games, or we're moving on. It's the first public indication that the front office may be having doubts about Love as their long term solution.
When you really study his video, it’s easy to get excited about Love’s potential. But it must be hard for the franchise to wait to see if that potential can morph into consistently good play.
I suppose that’s what the rest of the season will be for.
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Ken Lass is a former Green Bay television sports anchor and 43 year media veteran, a lifelong Packers fan, and a shareholder.
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Comments (99)
SweetPotatoGB
November 02, 2023 at 03:17 pm
It's worth doing the final evaluation in January. Sometimes it seems as though Packers fans believe they're going to be forced to watch Love struggle for the next ten seasons. The whole thing is so far from a done deal, and I worry less about Jordan than I do about how poorly the rest of the team is performing. They will move on from Jordan if they need to. Fixing the rest of the team is going to be just as important, and likely more difficult considering all the moving parts. At any rate, the best case scenario is STILL that Love turns things around and proves that he can be the guy. If Aaron Rodgers couldn't bring this squad into a wild card spot, then I think it's safe to say that the team as a whole doesn't stand a chance right now. Let's root for our guys, and Carry the G for the rest of the season!
Razer
November 02, 2023 at 03:39 pm
...I worry less about Jordan than I do about how poorly the rest of the team is performing...
At this stage in his development, Love needs far more team and solid coaching than the Packers are showing. Tells you just how good Rodgers was.
SweetPotatoGB
November 02, 2023 at 04:26 pm
That may be, but by the time Aaron was playing with this group he already had more NFL experience than almost anyone gets. It'll be a while before GB is playing a winning brand of football, and both the team and staff will likely look a lot different than who is there now...Still, it's possible they start clicking and winning games before this season ends. However unlikely that may be, I'll be rooting for every guy on that field every Sunday.
jurp
November 02, 2023 at 05:30 pm
As long as Scooter is the HC and the staff remains the same (consistency!), we will be in the bottom of the league. Doesn't matter who our QB is at this point.
dblbogey
November 02, 2023 at 06:07 pm
Rodgers was good enough to lead us to an 8-9 record.
PackerBO
November 02, 2023 at 06:13 pm
With a fractured thumb and the coach didn't pull him.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 12:24 am
Everybody glosses over his rib injury. Have you ever gone weeks without sleep due to a rib injury? I have. The first thing that goes is your mental speed. And that was evident.
KnockTheSnotOutOfYou
November 03, 2023 at 08:23 am
Not to take anything away from Rodgers he also had 3 very experienced WR's, and 2 very experienced TE's. What we don't know is wether AR would perform much better than Love this season without those experienced receivers. Personally, I don't believe so, which is why Rodgers being as smart as he is sat in his darkness retreat knowing the Packers would not be able to pay those veteran receivers, so he choose to leave and go to the Jets with his legacy somewhat still intact after an 8 & 8 season.
Minniman
November 03, 2023 at 03:07 pm
Agree Razer.
The benefit of "ol' death stares" was that he taught the WR's exactly where HE needs them on a route (to suit his arm).
There's a difference between the textbook of a route and how that accommodates a particular QB's arm.
I thoroughly enjoy watching J.T O'Sullivan's weekly take on NFL QB's - Love included (the QB School on YouTube). FYI, he was a depth QB at GB in 2004/5. He goes into the subtleties of routes, and how savvy vets know when to drift on a route to lead defenders away from the play (especially when they aren't the intended read 1 or 2).
Pizzadoc
November 03, 2023 at 06:31 pm
Maybe Stenovich as OC is a bad idea?
NFLfan
November 02, 2023 at 05:36 pm
@SPGB-
No mention of weak coaching?
U work for FO?
SweetPotatoGB
November 02, 2023 at 05:44 pm
I'm not a big fan of the coaching job in GB, and I expect there is more than one coach within the organization that is at risk of termination by season's end. I don't have any idea who they may be, because it's too hard to disentangle the mess that the Packers are right now from the outside. I don't anticipate the exact same crew of coaches will be there to start the 2024 season.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:01 am
The O line coach is terrible. You can tell because fundamentals including footwork are terrible, nearly across the entire O line. Zach Tom is the big exception, and I have to expect that if this continued to be tolerated by the coach, he will also regress. Elton Jenkins also has had lapses of good footwork, although he mostly plays well. This coach's last name is Butkus and he should be sent back to Chicago, yesterday. Playing Tom, Jenkins and JRJ injured when there is so much depth is just horrible coaching. I expect MLF has final authority over that decision but I can't see him being a tyrant, over ruling a position coach that says don't play offensive linemen that are injured, give a dominant monster like Mt. Caleb a chance first. He's been completely wasted so far, not playing one snap. Why even have depth if you won't play them?
Stenovitch was fine as an O line coach, and incompetent as an OC. Demote him back to where he's good.
MLF is not an NFL coach. Even his first 3 seasons with 13 wins each, in his losses he never adjusted. And he was out coached in every playoff loss. Demote him to OC and see how he does there.
Our TE coach never played TE, and it shows.
Somebody said our WR coach (Vrable) is terrible. I know nothing about him, but if our WRs had been practicing just catching for over 2 hours every day since the first OTA, there wouldn't be so many drops. This counts as "fundamentals" for a WR. Include Musgrave in that. Any coach that doesn't teach fundamentals is a terrible coach. A coach that DOES teach fundamentals properly but has players that are insubordinate has the duty to bench guys like that until they follow instructions, especially when you've got such outstanding depth as this WR room.
DC Joe Berry is rightfully hated, but these others are worse. The D has mostly held opponents to scores that should be winnable games. The D is still underperforming for how much talent they have, which means the DC is bad. He was bad as a DC everywhere before GB, and he's bad as a DC here.
Our strength and conditioning coaches are bad, and this has been true for many years. Whether this is truly the reason for so many hamstring injuries of course I can't know, but I DO know that good training reduces this specific injury, dramatically.
I defended Gutey up until he gave Rasul Douglas away for nothing, and called moving up 40 spots at the additional expense of a fifth round pick a deal that was too good to pass up. I'm not even against him for giving away one of our best players who was a vital leader, but for being tone deaf as to human nature. This was incredibly demoralizing to the whole team. The way he handled it with Rasul is even worse. Morale among these players is a LOT more important than winning games this whole season. Seeing everybody improve is the most important thing, and everybody is regressing. The whole team is regressing, while even da Bares are improving.
That's on coaching. The entire coaching staff gets an F. I expect QB coach Tom Clements is still good, but others have suggested the age differential to JL10 means he isn't learning from him. I have no idea about that, but it doesn't seem like Jordan to be that way.
I like ST coach Rich Bisaccia's approach, and hope he's still good. I don't look at allowing one return for a TD against us as a complete failure of a coach for a season, but that unit has also regressed. Except Carlson has only missed one kick all season so far, which is better than any of us expected. Promoting RB from assistant HC to interim HC could not possibly make anything worse. (Knock on wood) Of course I can't know if his demeanor would work better with this roster, but it can't hurt to try.
I'm not taking up for anyone else on the staff, these are just the most glaring weak spots I see, and they're hurting the develop part of "draft and develop" in a time that is CRUCIAL for this team over the next decade. I think there's plenty of talent on the roster to be a good team, but allowing suckage is not how you coach a team that will become good.
Minniman
November 03, 2023 at 02:54 pm
Favre said in an interview recently:
" sometimes you need to make chicken salad from chicken $h!t "
"Jordan has the strength and accuracy, he now needs to show that he can make plays - THAT is the mark of a good QB".
He also re-iterated the oft quoted fact that unlike Rodgers and himself, Love has no established WR1 or O-LIne.
If Favre is emphasizing this, then maybe, as visually frustrating as it is this year, we should do the same.
It shouldn't be understated just how much Bakhtiari's injury has hurt the 2023 Packers - from his play absence to his cap hit, it couldn't have been any more catastrophic for the team.
Since'75
November 03, 2023 at 06:24 pm
"A more thorough review of his game against the Vikings last Sunday clearly shows why they believe Love can develop into a good to great player in this league."
Ok, i read enough......
When he "gets there" Ken, look me up, we'll chat.☮
jboss
November 02, 2023 at 03:21 pm
Not just the rest of this season, he, the coach, and management deserve 3 years. Instant gratification does not become you.
Packerpasty
November 02, 2023 at 05:53 pm
three years now!! First people wanted half a season, then a full season, then two years...now three years!!! hahaha...good luck with that...
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:12 am
If we're talking about JL10, two years is what was initially said. Only Mike Murphy (Mr. We Are Not Idiots) said anything about half a season, which was a thoroughly idiotic thing to say. It's half a season and it's impossible to evaluate him due to the chaos surrounding him, although I agree with the take in this article. Gutey said, reading between the lines, that he has to improve. I don't see how anyone could disagree with that.
Giving MM another second to ruin football operations is egregious. Leaving his silos intact is arguably worse.
The entire coaching staff is suspect at best. Nobody's developing, everybody's regressing. Coaches aren't doing their job.
Since'75
November 03, 2023 at 06:30 pm
*Mark
Since'75
November 03, 2023 at 06:33 pm
YES!!...lol
More time!!
Love: 3 years to learn offense, 3 years to run it.
Gute: 6 years to get us where we are today....6 years to....try again.
LeotisHarris
November 03, 2023 at 08:39 pm
el·lip·sis
noun
An ellipsis, or ellipses in the plural form, is a punctuation mark of three dots (. . .) that shows an omission of words, represents a pause, or suggests there's something left unsaid.
stockholder
November 02, 2023 at 03:26 pm
First impressions are long lasting.
LOVE stinks! He can't hit a moving Target.
That tells us all we need to know.
Put Clifford in. Stop the Depression.
Gute has No eye when it comes to QBs.
jurp
November 02, 2023 at 05:31 pm
"Gute has No eye when it comes to QBs."
Says the guy who wants Clifford - one of Gute's draft picks - to start.
stockholder
November 02, 2023 at 07:38 pm
Yes - I do.
Because every pick deserves a opportunity before
we draft another.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:15 am
Then don't rob JL10 of his opportunity before you draft another.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:14 am
Clifford, while IMHO a great backup QB for this organization, is a BIG step down from JL10.
jannesbjornson
November 03, 2023 at 09:09 am
See how Aidan O'Connell fares for the Raiders this weekend. I would have bagged him in the fourth rd. in lieu of Wooten, but I think too much.
KnockTheSnotOutOfYou
November 03, 2023 at 08:25 am
Pretty humorous isn't it! Some simply will never get over the fact Love was drafted in round 1 in 2020 to replace their beloved AR.
Packerpasty
November 03, 2023 at 10:25 am
it will prove to be a mistake ill bet the house on that...
KnockTheSnotOutOfYou
November 03, 2023 at 01:11 pm
pasty....you have a 26% thumbs up vote here on CCTV, and a 74% negative thumbs down rating here on CHTV. Frankly, I am not sure it really matters what you do. The problem has always been you only want Love to fail ever since he was drafted! You made it clear all last year, and again this offseason how negative you were about AR being shown the door, and that Love was given the reigns as QB1.
My whole life I have always supported a young Packer and hoped for the best. Some players take awhile to develop even though we all want them to immediately play and be quality starters from day 1. Without throwing out dozens of examples of players over the years who took awhile to develop (in fact, a hell of a lot of ex-Packers who were cut ended up playing/starting in the league for 10+years). I realize you will never exercise patience and acknowledge Love's whole starting offense in his very first year as a starting QB is not playing well, I will continue to believe in Love and hope for the best until such time he demonstrates without question he cannot. The 2023 season is not a fair evaluation until such time he has a competent OL, running game, and receiving game.
LeotisHarris
November 03, 2023 at 08:39 pm
el·lip·sis
noun
An ellipsis, or ellipses in the plural form, is a punctuation mark of three dots (. . .) that shows an omission of words, represents a pause, or suggests there's something left unsaid.
dblbogey
November 02, 2023 at 06:08 pm
Sometimes I just come here to downvote your rants.
Coldworld
November 02, 2023 at 06:11 pm
As you said about Rodgers.
And said
And said again
Razer
November 02, 2023 at 03:35 pm
At this point, I am not down on Love. The coaches and his teammates are making life very difficult for a guy who should be looking for simple. Gutekunst surrounding this QB with a shitty O-line and 1st and 2nd WR/TE has super complicated the picture. If Lafleur could simplify this clusterf#ck offensive scheme and if they can find a coach to retrain the O-line and if they can teach the WR what plays are being called we might see what Love can do. In the meantime we erode Love's confidence and derail his development.
jannesbjornson
November 02, 2023 at 06:52 pm
The guy doesn't have a draft strategy. I'll keep Watson in the first round and bag McBride and Lucas in rd two.
The third round gives you the ILB/RB. Musgrave is a long strider. He is not to be used as a conventional TE in the stock car derby Shanahan offense. The TE deep draft was in 2022. Still looking for the OT lining up instead of Van Ness.
KnockTheSnotOutOfYou
November 03, 2023 at 08:29 am
Jannes...your observation about Musgrave is an astute one, which is why pre-draft I mentioned the various ways he could best be used.
jannesbjornson
November 03, 2023 at 09:13 am
If they wanted a guy to be inline they should have moved on Mayer. I still have faith in Kraft. They need to cut him loose on the seam routes. LaFluer has a static offense, in my opinion. Where are the crosses to chew up the zones. Tossing to those routes lets a QB hit a guy in stride. When he calls a slant Love puts it on the money, if Doubs , or Watson can catch it.
PhantomII
November 02, 2023 at 08:40 pm
100% agree. I was pretty optimistic at first because of the Eagles game last season and ML finally being able to run his system fully. What has transpired is BAK throwing in the towel this season and reworking his knee, which severely weakened the LT spot for good. ML not using Yosh there???? Dillon taking out our pro bowl LG Jenkins. Our Center still unable to do anything on the OL. The right side is still weak. The run game being so poor has enabled the defenses to crowd the pass lanes with zero fear in the run game and make us one dimensional with a bunch of WR's and TE's running the wrong routes and poor run blocking and dropping passes far too often. The only real fix in 2023 Gute has punted until he feels like swallowing enough crow to get A LOT of OL talent in the form of a New CENTER/ RG/ and LT minimum...not counting rotational personnel in case of injury. Love will not look right until we can effectively run the ball and none of our OL are the right personnel to do that to any great degree and that's ML and his BS stretch run crap that has knocked us out of every playoff and NFCC game to date. ROAD GRADERS ARE THE WAY TO A CHAMPIONSHIP. The RB room needs a big bump of talent as Jones will not run forever and has been hurt most of the season. Sending our best healthy CB to the Bills will ensure Gute loads up on more defense and does not fix the OL.
KnockTheSnotOutOfYou
November 03, 2023 at 08:38 am
Phantom,
Why the front office haven't looked at every playoff game loss for the past 20 years and come to the conclusion we always get beat because the opponent has more talent in the trenches than we do. What has been the Packers success rate over the years in 3rd (or 4th) and one situations? Similarly the same on defense?
I'm hoping Van Ness turns out to be a clone of Rashan Gary but was and still shocked Broderick Jones the left tackle was not our selection at #11. The Packers desperately need 3 studs on the OL, and a run stopper on the defensive line. We now have 5 selections in the top 100 in the 2024 draft, and Gutey should use four of those selections on the meanest and nastiest big bodies available. Time our trenches kick ass and takes names!
jannesbjornson
November 03, 2023 at 09:21 am
Gutedkunst is not only incompetent, he is arrogant. The Douglas trade was mindless, especially with King II riding the IR. I pushed Broderick Jones, the best OT in the '23 draft, as the most logical solution to the O lines issues. He hits the Rt spot and slides over WHEN Bhaktiari goes down for the count. He will push P.Smith out the door for the part-time newbie, if the Used Car Dealers retain the services of the "brain trust"
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:20 am
Exactly!
I don't blame the roster, but they aren't developing. They aren't learning. They're regressing.
The best teacher in the world is ineffective if their student doesn't learn. Someone else is needed. This is a glaringly obvious need right now. There are tons of ways to handle this, including bringing in outside consultant(s) for even a short stint.
More of the same is something that should not be an option.
TarynsEyes
November 02, 2023 at 03:42 pm
"He moves better and sees the field better when he is running laterally or weaving up through the pocket."
So he's the Sundance Kid.
https://youtu.be/_AoCK5r2TWg?si=RQlPNBt6ZxvzEE9O
Razer
November 02, 2023 at 04:09 pm
Ha, ha. Classic movie and great scene. Would be funny if Love dropped this in a team meeting.
BruceC1960
November 02, 2023 at 05:05 pm
Well done.
LeotisHarris
November 02, 2023 at 06:03 pm
Nice, Taryn! ::fistbump::
MainePackFan
November 02, 2023 at 06:50 pm
Well played Taryn ; )
Packer_Fan
November 02, 2023 at 03:43 pm
Well done article. Perhaps the Packers should start with up tempo game. I think roll outs and up tempo will help. And Love should run more but slide and avoid the hits. And Love should use check downs more. And yes, I have noticed a lot of passes that the receiver's have to twist to catch. Messes everything up.
In these last three loses, the Packers had opportunities to win the game.
Let's give Love about 5 to 6 more games. And Lafleur needs to do something to help out Live.
jurp
November 02, 2023 at 05:32 pm
The best thing LaFleur could do to help the team at this point is resign.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:26 am
One of the things JL10 does well is slide to avoid contact.
He needs to learn how to throw it away when a play is going nowhere. He still needs to learn when taking a sack is the best option. He also needs to decide to run quicker, as the article states. I wish he wouldn't try to play hero ball, attempting to thread needles; he just isn't ready for that even though he has thrown some DIMES. He's not consistent enough to try that, and he throws into excellent coverage when he shouldn't make that attempt.
#11 was open quite a bit without being thrown to.
All these things can be learned.
TarynsEyes
November 02, 2023 at 03:45 pm
""When you really study his video, it’s easy to get excited about Love’s potential."
When you need to study that hard to find potential, you're likely fooling yourself into something, foolish.
KnockTheSnotOutOfYou
November 03, 2023 at 08:49 am
Do you really believe if Love had a decent OL, a decent running game, and a true #1 WR in year 2 as QB1 that he would not be a pretty effective QB? Gimme a break!
Note...I am only saying 'an effective' and not great QB! Love just turned 25 years old a couple days ago and it's well known QB's are at their best as they enter their early 30's. Love will continue to improve and grow as a QB for years. For those writing him off now without him having any semblance of a competent offense around him have zero knowledge and expertise about football. I repeatedly see the same posters going on and on negatively about Love and they don'tknow jack shit! Only time/experience coupled with competent player's surrounding Love will determine just how good he will become. The talent is obvious but how good we are going to have to be patient.
bleedgreen
November 02, 2023 at 04:15 pm
I would say he has been consistent. Consistently not good. The Packers have 10 more games to evaluate Love and decide if he is the solution. They had better make the right decision or this team will be set back multiple years. I would actually like to see Clifford get in a game and watch his performance to gauge how Love is doing. From what I have seen the last 3 1/2 years Love is not a franchise QB. I think they expected him to step in and be the next Mahomes. If Packers get a high draft pick they need to take a QB.
Lare
November 02, 2023 at 04:26 pm
Agreed.
jurp
November 02, 2023 at 05:33 pm
Agreed as well. Given that we may be looking at a 3-14 season at this point, we could have a shot at a decent one.
MainePackFan
November 02, 2023 at 07:14 pm
" I think they expected him to step in and be the next Mahomes."
That's part of the problem. He needs to stop trying to be Mahomes or Rodgers. He has some of the gifts they have but he needs to figure out who Jordan Love is. I am neither a Jordan Love fanboy nor a Jordan Love hater. At this point, I don't know who he is. It's up to him to show us.
As far as Clifford goes, the only way he should play is if Jordan gets hurt, or he stinks so bad that they have no choice. Jordan waited his turn with class, he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Frankly, I blame Brian Gutekunst for this mess. You draft the kid knowing it would be controversial, and you give him no veteran help when his time comes. Rodgers was right about Gutekunst. Watch Rasul's presser with the Bills, read between the lines, and you realize what a piece of shit Brian Gutekunst is.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:33 am
Nobody expected JL10 to be Mahomes.
The original idea is give him two years to develop. Using our top pick on a QB next draft would set the team back quite a bit, there are plenty of needs to be filled. Also, if Marvin Harrison Jr is available when that comes up? That's one player that can improve a whole team, I don't see how you pass on him even though I really like all 8 in the WR room now.
Further, you don't get one of the top QBs in this draft past #5, and trading up for that is expensive. It's an interesting question if GB winds up with a position that high who they should take, and fortunately it's premature to make that decision now. The most pressing need is to stabilize the O line so JL10 can be evaluated before the draft.
jannesbjornson
November 03, 2023 at 09:28 am
Both High-points to Watson should have been TDs and Reed has to snatch the ball and retain possession. Doubs is a 50/50 guy as far as drops and sloppy route running. Musgrave has been put in positions to get him IR'd, or possibly injured for life. Love is worried about his blind side and Now the piss poor play of Myers and Runyan.
A 3rd and One call with these two clowns whiffing on Phillips, the man to double at all times. Dillon saw the hole evaporate and cut off tackle where Watson blocks down instead of the DB lined up Directly in front of him. I would love to get that particular play up on the big view screen and work them over for about two hours. WTF?
crayzpackfan
November 02, 2023 at 04:31 pm
It sounds to me like the coaches and management are launching "Operation Cover Our Asses (OCOA) and one Jordan Love is soon to become the first one to feel the tires from "ScapeGoat Bus Lines" rolling over him. This whole FO and coaching staff are starting to disgust me. Everything we see is the product of their collective decisions. Instead of being real men and going down with their ship, they are instead throwing women and children overboard while securing their own places on the lifeboats. Dicks! Thumb me down if that floats your boat (see what I did there?), but this whole thing just stinks. Something I didn't think I would see in GB again since the 70's through the early 90's famine.
jurp
November 02, 2023 at 05:34 pm
Scooter McLean LaFleur needs to go, along with almost his entire coaching staff.
MainePackFan
November 02, 2023 at 07:37 pm
Scooter ain't the problem Jurp, the artist formerly know as "Gutey" is the biggest problem with this team. If I were the decision maker, his sorry a** would be gone. He owns this clusterf**k !!!
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:42 am
MPF,
that position rests on the notion that the current woes are due to the roster.
I think the talent on the roster is mostly fine with a few holes we all knew about, but skills aren't being taught. Fundamentals aren't being taught. If these things are being taught, consistently and well, coaches job is to BENCH players who won't follow instructions, and put in guys who will. That isn't happening, so it's the coaches fault either way.
The entire coaching staff deserves an F right now. And most players are regressing. The team as a whole is regressing. That's a failure of coaching, not GM. And Mike Murphy's silos prevent the GM from fixing it.
MainePackFan
November 03, 2023 at 04:53 pm
SST,
I assume the GM goes to practices, if skills and fundamentals are not taught by his coaches, he should fire them. Either way, the blame is still on the GM.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:36 am
Keep the entire roster, lose the staff.
While that's deliberately too broad a brush, it's good priorities, appropriate for this mess.
NFLfan
November 02, 2023 at 05:49 pm
@CPF-that's exactly what I think. Gute, MM & MLF are in CYA mode. They can take refuge in 'tank' mode the rest of the season. "It's not their fault'-team is young, undisciplined, yada yada.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:47 am
It's a horrible excuse for bad coaching.
Coach Cleve Steamer
November 02, 2023 at 04:34 pm
If you have 41 passing attempts you’re going to need to make a lot more good passes than 4 or 5 unless these are all touchdowns. In my eyes at this point he looks like a freshman newby in a game that’s way too fast for him. He needs more experience as this has turned out to be a padded practice season but with a real opponent looking for blood.
NFLfan
November 02, 2023 at 05:53 pm
@ Reb-
Love has NO O-line, receivers cannot run routes nor catch, his 'coach' cannot play-call, make adjustments nor cope w/o Rodgers.
Rodgers couldn't do much under those circumstances either.
dblbogey
November 02, 2023 at 06:12 pm
Rodgers at this stage would be worse, considering the state of our OL and Rodgers having no mobility anymore.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:58 am
With an injured achilles tendon, that's obviously true. With a rib injury causing him to not be able to sleep for weeks, that was obviously true. Compounded with a thumb injury that obviously prevented him from both gripping and releasing the ball properly, that was so glaringly true that JL10 should have started, keeping AR12 dressed if they needed to put him in there to try to salvage a winnable game.
Gutey said "I think we know what we have in Jordan Love" last season, which was an idiotic thing to say. Of course they didn't. Of course they should have looked at him while giving AR12 a chance to heal, especially in games you didn't expect to win anyway. His admission that they still don't know is worlds better as a statement, but awfully damned weasely in the context of not correcting the previous statement and hoping nobody would notice.
There is no memory of a goldfish in football!
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:51 am
NFLfan,
AR12 proved that last season. Even before his rib injury which everybody seems oblivious to, he was pretty limited without Davonte Adams. And without Steno as O line coach.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 01:49 am
Rebecca, I'm amazed JL10 hasn't gone down with a serious injury yet, the way this O line is letting him get hit. People are calling for Clifford, who should only take the field in that situation, which would be most unfortunate and always carries the risk of ending a career.
Coach Cleve Steamer
November 03, 2023 at 04:10 pm
Been thinking that too. I want Love to be successful and the possibility of a significant injury because of poor line play scares me. I’d like to see the coaching get a clue, but the use of personnel has been incompetent.
CoachJV
November 02, 2023 at 05:26 pm
They're better in the no-huddle because they have less time to think. Everybody is over-thinking themselves and confusing themselves.... They all need to go get arrested and then line-dance to disco tunes in the cell while they wait for LAF to bail them all out.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 02:00 am
Lol that's right out of an Elvis movie.
CoachJV
November 03, 2023 at 07:56 am
The Replacements
NFLfan
November 02, 2023 at 05:59 pm
Why don't MLF, Barry & Gute have more self-respect, man-up and resign? They are all wealthy,relatively young and set for life. Of course, none of them will be considered for NFL-related jobs.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 02:00 am
Put Mike Murphy at the head of that list.
PackerBO
November 02, 2023 at 06:28 pm
This is Gute's team. No offensive line? Gute. Can't stop the run? Huge didn't draft run stuffers until later in the draft. The difference between Wolf and Gute, was Wolf got rid of draft picks when he made a mistake, Huge holds on to them too long when a mistake is made.
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 02:04 am
There's tons of talent on the O line. Their footwork is atrocious, and no other fundamentals can help you no matter how good they might be if your feet are even 2" out of position.
That's on coaching, not Gutey.
#99 hasn't played. Not even against teams that we KNEW were going to try to run all over us. He wasn't even dressed. That's not on Gutey. He should be ready to choke the shit out of MLF.
lou
November 03, 2023 at 03:17 pm
Yes like almost all first year starting QB's Love's performance had been characterized as "roller coaster" but lets take a good look at the overall issues;
https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/the_one_man_responsible_for_the_...
Handsback
November 02, 2023 at 07:07 pm
Can I make a suggestion...ok no objections so I'll continue. Go to CC's section on Packers.com and read how after playing 3 years that Bart Starr, yes the QB was almost benched by Lombardi for uneven play.
Give Love time and resources and let's see what he can do. He has a live arm and be's not stupid. The last thing you want is to see him playing at all pro level with the Bears.
Just MHO
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 02:06 am
Handsback,
thank you!
BritPack
November 03, 2023 at 06:45 am
"The last thing you want is to see him playing at all pro level with the Bears." 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Are you a stand up comedian IRL? Love will never play at all pro level as long as he has a hole in his arse.
THESZOTMAN1
November 02, 2023 at 07:51 pm
Handsback is right.
Another example. The Falcons Jerry Glanville said Brett Favre could not play and said he'd never put him on the field. That's why the Packers got him for a song.
Give Love the rest of the season.
The Szotman
jannesbjornson
November 03, 2023 at 07:58 pm
Wolf gave them a One pick.
LeotisHarris
November 03, 2023 at 08:31 pm
You with the details!
Do you know which song Wolf packaged with the first round pick?
Fubared
November 02, 2023 at 09:23 pm
I looked at Love col. stats to see if they might revel something about his play. He played three seasons. His avg pass was 8.2 yds. Which says he is comfortable with short passing game but his pass percentage was a meager 61.% which indicates he isnt very accurate passing medium and long. Last he tossed 17 interceptions his senior year which says he cant read defenses so he tries to run when unsure where to pass but misses open guys because he panicked too soon.
Sounds exactly like who he is now. I like the kid but the NFL imo is over his head. To fast moving and complex.
Oppy
November 03, 2023 at 08:25 am
What I love about you Fubared is how little you actually understand about whatever you decide to ramble about.
"His avg pass was 8.2 yds. Which says he is comfortable with short passing game but his pass percentage was a meager 61.% which indicates he isnt very accurate passing medium and long."
In 2022, the only QB to have a higher average yards per pass (minimum attempts, 14) was Tua with 8.9. The next highest was Mahommes with 8.1. I don't think anyone feels either of those two QBs are short passing game type QBs.
Aaron Rodgers' career completion percentage: 65.3%.
Jordan Love's completion rate of 61% could have been better, but it wasn't abysmal. His 3rd year struggles at Utah State are widely documented.
Racingdad
November 02, 2023 at 11:35 pm
Go ahead and judge him if u want it’s your right as for me I dug into his college stuff and in his last year he lost most of his team and had a whole new coaching staff and tryed to carry the team by himself. So I’ll wait a little while and give him a chance But to each their own
Packerpasty
November 03, 2023 at 10:28 am
you didnt dig very far...he was inaccurate in college had high INT rates and same problems as now...who said he tried to carry the team by himself? Thats a guess...if he did he didnt do very good job...
LeotisHarris
November 03, 2023 at 08:39 pm
el·lip·sis
noun
An ellipsis, or ellipses in the plural form, is a punctuation mark of three dots (. . .) that shows an omission of words, represents a pause, or suggests there's something left unsaid.
Racingdad
November 02, 2023 at 11:41 pm
If gb loses more games like the next 4or 5 my hope is mlf gets canned and rich b takes over At seasons end they can decide if rb is the man going forward if he stays and hires a really good dc like soon to be fired brandon Staley and cleans house and gets a sharp oc ??? Maybe keep steno but only if he goes back to oline coach Anyway just my thoughts on moving forward
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 02:12 am
Excellent take there :)
GPG!
Racingdad
November 02, 2023 at 11:46 pm
Hey bright spot if gb loses 10 more games they pick 1st and 33rd could land mhj or a top qb if desired or trade back a little pick up even more high picks and almost for sure mlf and barry plus most of the coaching staff would gone!!! So yes embrace the pain for a year or two and in 25 with a healthy cap and new coaching we are right back in the hunt. So short term pain long term gain ??
SicSemperTyrannis
November 03, 2023 at 02:11 am
Why throw away Rasul Douglas if you're not gunning for #1 pick? Right now I'm thinking trading back to get Marvin Harrison Jr and a top interior O lineman or three would be better for the team than an upgrade at QB, but if GB got #1 or 2 in the draft? That would be very tempting to go QB ...
Boneman
November 03, 2023 at 06:05 am
It's not just his inaccuracy, which is glaring for an NFL QB. It's that he doesn't throw with anticipation and conviction. It is amazing how consistently late his throws are. The WR's are finding it tough to catch the ball because they have defenders either on them or bearing down on them as they wait for the ball. This has nothing to do with being young as all you have to do is look at many of the other young QB's are able to accomplish this feat (even Levis last night!). I'm rooting for the kid to turn the corner but either you can do this or you can't. It's an innate ability good QB's all have. The O Line is actually above average in pass blocking, the receivers will be fine and MLF is a very good play caller. In the modern NFL everything hinges on the QB and that is where this team is way behind.
Packerpasty
November 03, 2023 at 10:33 am
That was then, this is now.....who cares about Starr, Favre, Rodgers or any other long gone QB....those people have nothing to do with Love...if anyone thinks Love will turn out like those other QB's you better watch more closely...
LeotisHarris
November 03, 2023 at 08:38 pm
el·lip·sis
noun
An ellipsis, or ellipses in the plural form, is a punctuation mark of three dots (. . .) that shows an omission of words, represents a pause, or suggests there's something left unsaid.
vin0770
November 03, 2023 at 08:30 pm
Five yard out bounces it…then sails it. I don’t think I need to see another year of scatter gun to realize he ain’t fixing this!