For Packers-Broncos, Coaches Sing Similar Tunes About Jordan Love, Russell Wilson
GREEN BAY, Wis. – With the Green Bay Packers getting set to face the Denver Broncos on Sunday following a dismal offensive performance, here’s what the head coach said about his struggling quarterback on Wednesday.
“I thought there were certain elements to the plan I didn’t like. We can correct that,” he said. “That being said – and I said it after the game – I was pleased with how we ran the ball, and yet, we didn’t throw it nearly well enough. That wasn’t just on him.
“It starts with me finding those throws for him – drive starters, for instance, and first-and-10 throws that are higher-completion-percentage throws. During this three- or four-day break, what are the things that can get us ahead of the chains early on?”
If that sounds like something the Packers’ Matt LaFleur would say about his young starting quarterback, Jordan Love, you’re right.
But, in this instance, that quote was from the Broncos’ Sean Payton about his veteran starting quarterback, Russell Wilson.
First-and-10 is a focus for both coaches ahead of Sunday’s game. The reality is both offenses, statistically-speaking, are quite good. The Broncos rank eighth with 5.89 yards per first-down play and the Packers are 10th with a 5.71-yard average.
With Love, Green Bay is ninth with 7.68 yards per first-down passing play. While Love is last in the NFL in completion percentage by a considerable margin, he ranks a decent 18th at 66.1 percent on first down. His first-down passer rating of 102.2 trails only the 49ers’ Brock Purdy, the Lions’ Jared Goff, the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa and the Bills’ Josh Allen.
However, when things go wrong on first down, everything else goes wrong.
The Packers are averaging 7.0 plays per game of second-and-10 or longer. That’s actually a bit less than the league average. However, if they’re facing second-and-long – what LaFleur calls a get-back-on-track situation – they might as well call out the punt team to save everyone the trouble.
The Packers are averaging 2.1 yards per play in those situations. That’s the worst in the league; the Jets are averaging 2.4 and the Panthers (3.7) are the only team averaging less than 4.0 yards. Eleven teams, by contrast, are averaging at least 6.0 yards.
The Packers need Jordan Love to complete more passes on early downs.
Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images
“Just a lot of inconsistent play,” is what LaFleur saw during his bye-week examination of the offense.
From there, he sounded a lot like Payton.
“There’s certain things that, as a play-caller, you are disappointed with yourself in terms of putting guys in certain situations,” LaFleur continued. “It’s just been very choppy. We haven’t been able to get into a consistent rhythm. The early-down execution has put us into some get-back-on-track situations, and that’s where we’ve really struggled.”
Indeed. The Packers are averaging 6.8 snaps per game of third-and-8 or longer. Only Carolina with rookie quarterback Bryce Young has faced more third-and-longs. Green Bay has moved the chains 23.5 percent of the time in those situations because of Love’s league-worst 47.1 passer rating.
“We’ve had a ton of third-and-longs, which it’s hard to have success in this league if you’re living in third-and-10-plus,” LaFleur said. “It takes all 11. We say it all the time but just going back and looking at the tape, there’s a guy off here and a guy off there, and it could be one person and it throws you off rhythm.
“We’ve really tried to stress the importance of staying dialed in play in and play out. I know we always talk about that one-play mind-set, but it is true when you look at the tape. If not all 11 are dialed in on their responsibilities, you’re probably not going to have success in this league.”
Getting running back Aaron Jones back on the field, presumably, would mean more first-down success and fewer third-and-longs. A better performance by the offensive line, which was a banged-up bunch before the bye, would obviously help, as well.
But Love needs to do a better job of “finding those completions” so the Packers are facing second-and-6 rather that second-and-10 and third-and-4 rather than third-and-long.
“It’s just that consistency of finding those completions and getting the chains moving,” Love said. “Things we’ve talked about is our get-back-on-track. When we get in those second-and-longer situations, just understanding that situation, understanding what we’re trying to accomplish to get us into a third-and-manageable situation.
“I think that’s an area that we can improve on a lot, me specifically.”
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