Diagramming a Dime: Jordan Love, Christian Watson Earned Coaches’ Trust

Jordan Love’s touchdown pass to Christian Watson against the Cardinals on Sunday showed just how far the Green Bay Packers’ offense has come.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) flexes as he does a Lambeau Leap after scoring against the Cardinals on Sunday. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – You’ve heard the stories before. Aaron Rodgers drawing up plays in the dirt for Jared Cook or Davante Adams.

Rodgers, the four-time league MVP, had earned the leeway to do those sorts of things, often with great success.

On one play Sunday afternoon, perhaps Jordan Love showed that he is starting to break more barriers as the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.

Stardom is not new to Love.

He’s been firmly in the spotlight since the night he was drafted. A lot has been expected of him since the second half of last season, when he played like one of the best quarterbacks in football.

Those expectations grew tenfold when he received a $220 million extension in the offseason.

Inconsistent play was not acceptable any longer.

Perhaps that isn’t fair, but Love is expected to play like an MVP candidate every week.

To whom much is given, much is expected.

Love, despite some obvious caveats, had not played like an MVP candidate prior to Sunday afternoon’s matchup against Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals.

There was one goal in mind as the game began.

Start fast and finish strong.

The Packers talked about playing four quarters of complementary football.

The key to achieving that was playing well in the first quarter.

There were wasted opportunities against Philadelphia in Week 1 and a 14-0 deficit against the Vikings in Love’s return to the lineup.

Sunday’s game was different. There was a conscious effort to get Love and the offense into a rhythm.

“It was huge,” Love said. “That was the goal for us coming into this game was to start fast and get in that rhythm. The first drive not getting points was tough, but we were able to come back and build on that rhythm that we wanted to have.”

Coach Matt LaFleur dialed up some simple plays to get him going.

Love rewarded him with a strong first quarter. He finished the frame 7-of-11 with a touchdown pass to Jayden Reed to give the Packers an early 7-0 lead.

That lead ballooned to 17-0 after a 10-yard touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs and a field goal by Brayden Narveson.

Following a 39-yard punt return by Keisean Nixon, the Packers were looking for a knockout punch.

On the first play of the series, Love gave a hard play-action fake to Josh Jacobs and turned around to scan the defense. Once he loaded up, the entire stadium knew he was throwing the ball down the field.

Waiting for it at the other end was Christian Watson, who said he knew it was going to be a touchdown.

 “Yeah, it was the perfect route,” Watson said. “It wasn’t even in the game plan. It was something we felt with how they were playing throughout the game, we knew if we got a chance to get this defense right here, we knew we’d be able to take the shot.

“As soon as we called it, I don’t want to be cocky or anything, but I knew it was a touchdown just based on how they were playing with their leverages. Really, that’s just hats off to LaFleur putting something in for us to go out there and ball.”

The play looked like an old-school shot play that Mike McCarthy would dial up for Rodgers to hit Jordy Nelson for big plays.

As it turns out, this play was not even on this week’s call sheet.

“That was a great play that Matt dialed up on the sidelines,” Love said. “Something we did not even have in this week. We talked about it, dialed it up, executed it, and it worked out perfect.”

With hundreds of plays in the playbook, it’s hard to get everything in on a given week. The play the Packers ran for a touchdown was something they have practiced and run in games before, but it was not part of this week’s game plan.

That’s a sign of confidence that the coach has in his quarterback and the offense as a whole.

It’s unlikely something like this would have happened a year ago, when LaFleur was understandably gun shy. His offense was historically young. His quarterback was just learning the ins-and-outs of being a starting quarterback.

Now?

He has full confidence in his players to execute the plays he calls, regardless of if they’re in the game plan.

“It’s something that’s in our system,” LaFleur said. “We were looking at the pictures [between series] and seeing how they responded (when) we tried to hit Tucker (Kraft) on what we call a sail route and noticed how the backside safety was playing it.

“So, it was just one of those sideline adjustments. We had that play up a couple weeks ago – not the formation or anything like that – but these guys have got banked reps on things. As a coach, you have confidence they can go out and execute it. It was a pretty cool adjustment, and those guys made the play come to life.”

With the Houston Texans coming to town, the Packers are going to need more plays like that to come to life, but Sunday’s game should be a good confidence builder as the offense continues to find its rhythm after a disjointed start to the season.

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The #Packers rolled past the Cardinals yesterday. Here's the postgame report card from @JacobWestendorf. ⬇️https://t.co/ouPNWpOmMA

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 14, 2024

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