Plenty to Love, Despite Interceptions?

The bottom line is Packers QB Jordan Love, while noticeably improved on the practice field this summer, wasn’t any better at taking care of the football against the 49ers.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Over the last 12 seasons, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has had just one game of three interceptions.

In one half of Friday’s preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, Love threw three interceptions.

More often than not, turnovers are a one-way ticket to defeat. Rodgers is the greatest quarterback in NFL history at avoiding turnovers, which is why the Packers usually win when he’s in the lineup. Love continues to make too many mistakes. He threw two interceptions in 17 attempts in a loss at Detroit in last year’s regular-season finale and had as many giveaways (four) in 131 snaps as Rodgers had in 983.

Of course, comparing Love to Rodgers isn’t fair to anyone. And it’s probably not fair to use preseason interceptions and regular-season interceptions in the same paragraph.

Tough.

The NFL is a tough business. All that matters is the bottom line. And the bottom line is Love, while noticeably improved on the practice field this summer, wasn’t any better at taking care of the football on Friday night.

Coach Matt LaFleur tried to absolve Love of the blame on all three interceptions. The first two were drops, LaFleur said, while two players ran the wrong routes on the third.

“I think two of those you can totally take off him,” LaFleur said. “The third one, we had two busted routes because the ball really shouldn’t have gone there on that play. He had nowhere else to go with the football, and he forced it in there and the defender made a good play. We’ve just got to clean up everything around him. We say it all the time about quarterbacks, they’re going to get too much credit when we do well and they’re going to get a lot of the blame when we don’t, and that’s just the reality of playing that position in this league.”

On the first interception, the ball zipped right through the hands of tight end Tyler Davis. Had the ball been thrown the between the “8” and “4” on Davis’ jersey, it would have been an easier play, but that’s a pass that absolutely must be caught by a professional football player.

On the second interception, the ball was thrown high and behind receiver Romeo Doubs. The rookie almost made a sensational catch but couldn’t hold onto the ball and the defensive back somehow made the grab. A drop by the coaches’ definition of you touch it, you catch it? Sure. But a routine throw would have produced a first down rather than a turnover.

On the third, regardless of the calamity elsewhere on the play, the pass to Amari Rodgers had almost no chance for success. Cornerback Samuel Womack was in front of the 5-foot-9 Rodgers, so there was no window to complete the ball. Throw the ball to the bench, punt and get ready for the next series.

To be sure, Love has been dealt a rough hand. It’s not as if he chose to be drafted in 2020 by the Packers – a team with Rodgers at quarterback and coming off a trip to the NFC Championship Game. It’s not his fault that COVID struck, meaning an abbreviated rookie training camp and no preseason. It’s not his fault that he suffered a shoulder injury in the 2021 preseason opener.

Also to be sure, any comparisons to Rodgers must take into account that Rodgers took over as the starter in his fourth season and this is only Love’s third season.

Still, let’s not forget that Love led the nation with 17 interceptions at Utah State in 2019. Here we are in 2022 and Love is still turning over the football. A quarterback can’t miss a relatively simple third-down pass, like he did on the interception that was intended for Doubs. A quarterback can’t throw to a receiver who he probably could barely see, like he did on the interception that was intended for Rodgers. A quarterback can’t turn his running backs into pretzels trying to catch simple checkdowns.

Two absolutely enormous weeks are coming up for Love. He’s going to face the superb New Orleans Saints defense for two days of joint practices before presumably leading a battle of the backups in next week’s preseason game. And then it’s one more week of practice before the preseason concludes at the Kansas City Chiefs.

Love’s talent is obvious. He’s made a bunch of big-time throws during this training camp. He looks so much more comfortable and poised compared to 12 months ago. But, at some point, the natural ability, the fundamentals and the decision-making have to come together. Will it, with a decision on his fifth-year option due at the end of this season? These next couple weeks will be telling.