mobile app bar

Jordan Love Opens Up About the Reason Why the Packers Offense Regressed Last Season

Alex Murray
Published

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) on the field after loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC wild card game at Lincoln Financial Field.

Jordan Love was so good to finish off the 2023 regular season (and in the postseason) that he earned himself a four-year, $220 million deal in the following offseason. One might have expected to see some progression from him and the offensive unit as a whole after an investment like that — but that wasn’t really the case.

The passing offense in Love’s second season as a starter saw a noticeable regression. Over the final eight games of the 2023 campaign, when the QB really burst onto the scene and the Green Bay Packers went 6-2, they averaged just over 384 yards per game (third), and 25.5 points per game (ninth).

They put up comparable numbers in 2024, though much of that was driven by a vastly improved running game led by Josh Jacobs. Love is well aware that both he and the passing attack fell short. He also understands the reason behind it.

Love threw for fewer yards and touchdowns in his second year as a starter, and his interception rate rose from 1.9 to 2.6. However, much of his and the passing game’s struggles stemmed from injuries.

Love suffered a knee injury in Week 1 and dealt with a couple more throughout the season. He’s pinpointed where he needs to improve and believes better health will allow him to make the necessary adjustments.

“I was dealing with an injury last year, but I think a big part of my game that I was missing was being able to get on the move, scramble a little bit more, take off and run and sometimes just extend plays… create some more off-schedule plays, I think, is a big part of the offense that we were missing that I didn’t do as well of a job on. So, that’s definitely something I’m trying to focus on going into this year,” said the star QB.

Love was also without top wideouts Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson for a few games, which didn’t help. But it was the QB’s own ailments that kept him from making off-schedule throws and extending plays the way he knows he can. He suffered a nasty-looking MCL sprain in Week 1, a groin injury in Week 8, and an elbow injury late in the season. No doubt those first two significantly hampered his mobility.

In 2023, Love was tied for third in the NFL in big-time throws (37) and he was tied for eighth in big-time throw rate (5.5), per PFF. He was also second in the league with 1,225 yards off deep throws (20+ yards) and second in deep TDs, with 11.

In 2024, Love dropped to fourth in deep passing yardage (1,007) and had just six deep TDs. He was also way down in 20th in big time throws (17) and t-19th in BTT rate (3.4).

Clearly, Jordan Love can execute the off-schedule, extended plays he was talking about — he was one of the best at it in 2023.

Moreover, the fact that Love was able to identify that as one of the areas where he regressed in his second year as a starter is almost as encouraging as knowing he has the talent to actually make those improvements. A great QB and leader always looks at himself first.

Post Edited By:Samnur Reza

About the author

Alex Murray

Alex Murray

x-iconinstagram-iconlinkedin-icon

Alex Murray has been active in the sport media industry since his graduation from the prestigious RTA School of Media at TMU (formerly Ryerson University) in downtown Toronto. He has had a specific focus and interest on all things football and NFL, which stems from his father, who imbued him with a love of football and the NFL over all other sports at a young age. Alex even played football up until his freshman year of college, when he realized that he would find more success writing about rather than playing the sport. Alex has written for a variety of sports media outlets, including theScore, FanSided, FantasyPros, GiveMeSport, and more.

Share this article