Comparing Jordan Love’s First 14 Games to Aaron Rodgers in 2008
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Making his 14th start in his debut season as the Green Bay Packers’ starting quarterback, Jordan Love wasn’t great on Sunday but the defense let him down in a 34-20 loss to the Buccaneers.
Making his 14th start in 2008, Aaron Rodgers wasn’t great, either, and the defense let him down, as well, in a 20-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Love was 29-of-39 passing for 284 yards and two touchdowns, but he couldn’t keep pace as the Packers dropped to 6-8.
Love’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Reed with 4:18 left in the third quarter was the play of the day for Green Bay’s offense. On third-and-14, Love extended the play to the right and threw a perfect pass to the end zone between the cornerback and the sideline.
Just like that, Green Bay was within 20-17.
“Once I started scrambling, I just kept my eyes downfield and saw Jayden in the back of the end zone, breaking towards that corner,” Love said. “Just put it out there for him and he made a great catch, getting the toes in bounds.”
Joe Barry’s defense was defenseless. A 22-yard pass to tight end Cade Otton, a 21-yard pass to Chris Godwin on second-and-18 and another 22-yard pass to Otton set up what wound up being the decisive touchdown.
Love answered with a field goal, but a field goal never was going to be good enough the way Baker Mayfield was cooking Barry’s defense.
“When you’ve got a good offense putting up points, you’ve got to respond as an offense, be able to match that, and keep putting up points, just kind of matching what they’re doing,” Love said. “It goes back to not finishing in the red zone. There’s always pressure [to respond]. That’s where we’ve got to be able to help our defense out by being able to match that offense, putting up points.”
After matching 3-of-4 red-zone performances in what looked like pivotal wins over the Lions and Chiefs, the Packers have gone 2-of-5 in back-to-back games.
“It’s something we’re going to have to look at, figure out a way to fix that going forward,” Love said.
It wasn’t quite the same story in Rodgers’ 14th start. The Packers led 13-7 entering the fourth quarter but Maurice Jones-Drew punctuated back-to-back drives with a 14-yard touchdown catch and a 2-yard touchdown run.
The first of the touchdowns gave the Jaguars a 14-13 lead with 10:39 to play, but Rodgers drove the Packers to the go-ahead field goal by Mason Crosby. On the first play of the ensuing possession, David Garrard hit Dennis Northcutt for a gain of 41. Then, he ran for 16 on third-and-4. Jones-Drew ran it in on the next play to make it 20-16 with 1:56 to play.
In need of a touchdown, Rodgers moved the Packers to midfield before he was intercepted.
With 14 starts behind them, Rodgers had a slight edge with a 91.8 rating to Love’s 90.8, though Love’s 25 touchdowns vs. 11 interceptions was better than Rodgers’ 23 touchdowns vs. 12 interceptions.
Green Bay was 5-9 with Rodgers compared to 6-8 with Love.
“How do we respond? How do we bounce back?” Love said. “It starts with getting back to work tomorrow, coming in, watching the film, learning from the mistakes, finding ways to get better, and then on to the next week, focusing on that and make sure we go get a win. But going forward, it’s a playoff (mentality) – the same thing we’ve talked about the weeks before.
“We’ve got to win every game. I don’t think we’ll have any problem in the locker room being able to bounce back and respond right now.”
Jordan Love Through Game 14
Week 1, at Chicago (win): 15-of-27 passing, 245 yards, three touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 123.2 rating.
Week 2, at Atlanta (loss): 14-of-25 passing, 151 yards, three touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 113.5 rating.
Week 3, New Orleans (win): 22-of-44 passing, 259 yards, one touchdown vs. one interception, 66.4 rating.
Week 4, Detroit (loss): 23-of-36 passing, 246 yards, one touchdown vs. two interceptions, 69.9 rating.
Week 5, Las Vegas (loss): 16-of-30 passing, 182 yards, zero touchdowns vs. three interceptions, 32.2 rating.
Week 6, bye.
Week 7, Denver (loss): 21-of-31 passing, 180 yards, two touchdowns vs. one interception, 90.8 rating.
Week 8, Minnesota (loss): 24-of-41 passing, 229 yards, one touchdown vs. one interception, 72.1 rating.
Week 9, L.A. Rams (win): 20-of-26 passing, 228 yards, one touchdown vs. zero interceptions, 115.5 rating.
Week 10, Pittsburgh (loss): 21-of-40 passing, 289 yards, two touchdowns vs. two interceptions, 71.8 rating.
Week 11, L.A. Chargers (win): 27-of-40 passing, 322 yards, two touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 108.5 rating.
Week 12, Detroit (win): 22-of-32 passing, 268 yards, three touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 125.5 rating.
Week 13, Kansas City (win): 25-of-36 passing, 267 yards, three touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 118.6 rating.
Week 14, N.Y. Giants (loss): 25-of-39 passing, 218 yards, one touchdown vs. one interception, 76.7 rating.
Week 15, Tampa Bay (loss): 29-of-39 passing, 284 yards, two touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 111.5 rating.
Total: 304-of-486 passing (62.6 percent), 3,368 yards, 25 touchdowns vs. 11 interceptions, 90.8 rating.
Aaron Rodgers Through Game 14
Week 1, Minnesota (win): 18-of-22 passing, 178 yards, one touchdown vs. zero interceptions, 115.5 rating.
Week 2, at Detroit (win): 24-of-38 passing, 328 yards, three touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 117.0 rating.
Week 3, Dallas (loss): 22-of-39 passing, 290 yards, zero touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 80.1 rating.
Week 4, Tampa Bay (loss): 14-of-27 passing, 165 yards, two touchdowns vs. three interceptions, 55.9 rating.
Week 5, Atlanta (loss): 25-of-37 passing, 313 yards, three touchdowns vs. one interception, 109.4 rating.
Week 6, Seattle (win): 21-of-30 passing, 208 yards, two touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 111.5 rating.
Week 7, Indianapolis (win): 21-of-28 passing, 186 yards, one touchdown vs. zero interceptions, 104.2 rating.
Week 8: Bye
Week 9, Tennessee (loss): 22-of-41 passing, 314 yards, one touchdown vs. one interception, 76.7 rating.
Week 10, Minnesota (loss): 15-of-26 passing for 142 yards, zero touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, 72.9 rating.
Week 11, Chicago (win): 23-of-30 passing, 227 yards, two touchdowns vs. one interception, 105.8 rating.
Week 12, New Orleans (loss): 23-of-41 passing, 248 yards, two touchdowns vs. three interceptions, 59.8 rating.
Week 13, Carolina (loss): 29-of-45 passing, 298 yards, three touchdowns vs. one interception, 96.3 rating.
Week 14, Houston (loss): 19-of-30 passing, 295 yards, two touchdowns vs. one interception, 104.2 rating.
Week 15, Jacksonville (loss): 20-of-32 passing, 278 yards, one touchdown vs. one interception, 87.8 rating.
Total: 296-of-466 passing (63.5 percent), 3,470 yards, 23 touchdowns vs. 12 interceptions, 91.8 rating.
