On Friday the NFL created history, as the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers faced off in São Paulo, Brazil for their Week 1 clash. The pressure was immense on QBs Jordan Love and Jalen Hurts, with the responsibility of setting the tone for their teams early in the season on them.
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For Love, the 2024 season’s opening game was a golden opportunity to prove himself as a leader in Green Bay after a promising last season. Meanwhile, Hurts, fresh off an MVP-caliber season had the task of accommodating himself to a new backfield featuring Saquon Barkley.
With the Philadelphia Eagles being the winner of tonight’s game, defeating the Green Bay Packers 34-29–it has already built crucial momentum for the Eagles and exposed early vulnerabilities for the Packers.
In head-to-head record, Hurts has a 1-0 record over Love in their sole meeting. Although Love has been a starter since 2021, Hurts’ experience and leadership to guide his team to victory was quite evident.
In terms of consistency and performance, Hurts has a 34-17 record as a starter across 62 games, while Jordan Love has a more modest 9-9 record over 18 starts in 27 games.
Looking at the stats, Hurts has higher consistency with 67 passing TDs and a passer rating of 91.1. On the other hand, Love is still developing- he has 35 touchdowns and a slightly higher passer rating of 94.0.
Coming to passing yards and accuracy, Hurts has thrown for 11,764 yards with a 63.4% completion rate while Love has 4,765 passing yards and 63.7% accuracy. Although their completion rates are quite similar, Hurts’ higher yardage clearly proves higher productivity.
Next, comes the rushing threat. One of the major differences between Love and Hurts is their mobility. The former has only 273 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns while the latter is a dual-threat QB with 2,503 rushing yards and 41 touchdowns on the ground.
One glance at these numbers, Hurts appears more consistent- he excels in both passing and rushing. Love, although promising, is still in the growing stage and has yet to match Hurts’ level of consistency.
However, former Denver Broncos star turned NFL Analyst, Shannon Sharpe weighed in on this Love versus Hurts debate and decided to side with the Love.
Sharpe is in Jordan Love’s corner
Sharpe hailed Love’s 2023 breakout season, which was the 25-year-old’s first as the Packers’ full-time starter after Aaron Rodgers was traded to the Jets last offseason. As per the ex-NFL star, Love’s throws on the move coupled with his chance to learn from Rodgers directly have prepared him well, and even went on to compare the Packers QB to A-Rod.
“He’s the real deal….the way he can throw the football from the pocket, the way he can throw the football on the move, the way he can change arm slots, he reminds you a lot of Aaron Rodgers,” said Sharpe.
Interestingly, he admitted how there were serious doubts about Green Bay drafting Love in 2020. However, cut to the present, Sharpe believes that the Packers “hit it out of the park” with their decision.
In contrast, although Sharpe recognized Hurts’ success, he pointed out how the Eagles QB last season was not close to his near-MVP performance in the past. Thus, he needs to prove that his previous milestones were not a sheer fluke. There’s still a lot of time for Love to prove himself, and maybe even overtake the Eagles star QB.
