Here’s What NFL MVP Quarterback Has Seen From Packers QB Jordan Love

Rich Gannon won NFL MVP in 2002. Here’s what he’s seen in studying Packers quarterback Jordan Love all season.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – For Jordan Love, the speed of the game as a young NFL starting quarterback is akin to the speed of the traffic as a young driver.

“If you can, go back to when you got your driver’s license and you’re 16 years old,” 2002 NFL MVP Rich Gannon told Packer Central this week. “You pretty much have blinders on. All you’re really looking at is the car in front of you and the traffic light or the stop sign. That’s really all you’re able to process. You just want to make sure that you stay between the yellow lines and you’re going the speed limit.”

An older driver doesn’t have that sort of tunnel vision. The Green Bay Packers are hoping a more experienced Love won’t have the sort of tunnel vision that resulted in the first of three interceptions against the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night.

“When you get to be an older, experienced driver, [shoot], you see oncoming traffic, you see cars in the distance, you see cars behind you in your rear-view mirror, you’re seeing the braking patterns, you’re seeing a pedestrian in the crosswalk,” said Gannon, the former CBS analyst and a current contributor for The 33rd Team who’s studied Love throughout the season.

The Packers are enduring early, predictable growing pains with Love. In back-to-back losses to the Lions and Raiders, Love threw one touchdown pass vs. five interceptions. For the season, he’s last in the NFL in completion percentage and has plunged to 28th in passer rating.

“What’s happening is the game’s going a little bit too fast for him right now. The game needs to slow down,” Gannon said. “He needs to be able to anticipate better.”

Nothing matters more to the franchise than the development of the hand-picked successor to Aaron Rodgers. Week by week, they need him to be better. Experience in real games is the greatest teacher. Unlike the preseason, Love too often has been indecisive. Rather than reacting to the coverage, the Packers need Love to start anticipating the coverage.

“If I said to you pre-snap, ‘Hey, based on the concept, based on the protection, based on the alignment of the shell of the secondary, you’re going to start to your left and you’re going to throw the corner or the flat,” Gannon said.

Rich Gannon against the Packers in 1999 :: Photo by Peter Brouillet/USA Today Sports Images

“As opposed to, he’s three steps into his drop, he’s like, ‘Oh, [crap], I’m supposed to be to the left side. Now, all of a sudden, you’re late with your eyes and you speed up your footwork and, [crap], you missed it. Instead of being a 25-yard corner, I’m late with my eyes and I throw the ball to the flat and we pick up 5 yards. You say, ‘OK, that’s OK.’ But it’s not OK. You’re late with your eyes, you’re late with the read, and we’re leaving some big plays on the field because of things like that.”

The one play Gannon came back to a couple times was Love’s second-quarter interception to Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane. Love came out of a play-action fake and fired the ball almost robotically to receiver Romeo Doubs. The play didn’t have a chance, though. Spillane read it like a book for an easy interception.

“You’ve got a crossing route, the veteran quarterback’s going to look and, even though they know it’s man-to-man, you know you’ve got him, if they’ve got time, it’s a five-step drop, on that third step, they’re going to take a peek out in front,” Gannon said.

“Is there a thief or a safety that’s dropping in, or is there a dropping end or dropping linebacker on the back side I need to see, or a Mike linebacker in the middle of the field? He never even saw Spillane. And, quite honestly, if Spillane didn’t intercept it, the other guy would have intercepted it. It was just a bad decision, and he’s making a couple of them every week. It’s what you’re going to get. You’re playing a guy that’s playing for the first time.”

So long as the interception was the equivalent of the 16-year-old who didn’t check his rear-view mirror before switching lanes and got into a fender-bender, the Packers can deal with the growing pains because everyone knew they were coming.

“He hasn’t had the benefit of a lot of snaps. I’m talking about competitive, game-like snaps,” Gannon continued. “I just think every time now it’s a learning experience for him, and also it’s a learning experience for Matt (LaFleur). He’s finding out about what this guy can handle, what he’s good at. What you hope is that the mistakes he’s making he can clean up and not make the same mistake next week or in two weeks.”

Jordan Love has a chance to be "special," former NFL QB Rich Gannon said :: Photo by Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports Images

Gannon wasn’t worried about Love’s declining performance following back-to-back games of three touchdowns and zero interceptions to start the season. The star running back and premier left tackle are out while Love is trying to make it work with a bunch of rookie and second-year receivers and tight ends.

Under the assumption that Love will be a different player in December and January than he was in September and the start of October, the Packers can deal with some short-term pain for the long-term gain that would come from having their next excellent quarterback driving the franchise.

With arm talent, athleticism, the ability to throw on the move and with different arm angles, Love has all the physical tools, Gannon said. Now, it’s about experiencing everything that’s being thrown at him and learning and improving.

“The expectations are, ‘This is what we do here in Green Bay,’” Gannon said about three decades of Brett Favre and Rodgers. “It’s kind of like, we had Joe Montana and we had Steve Young, and now it’s Jeff Garcia. ‘OK, Jeff, let’s see what you can do.’ I think the expectations are pretty unrealistic. He’s got to embrace who he is and what he does well.

“Just have that same work ethic and passion that the other guys had. That doesn’t take a lot of talent. He’s got to go out there and get better at his craft. You can’t continue to make the same mistakes. If you go back and watch him in the next game, and he’s locking in on his receivers and he’s not taking the time to look out in front of a crossing route and he’s still making the same poor decisions, then you’ve got to have that conversation.

“But I think he’s got a chance to be a pretty special player.”

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