For a large portion of the last three games, Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers offense have been going backwards. However, it’s not as if conditions around the first-time starting quarterback have been all that good either.
Since the New Orleans game, which includes an impressive fourth-quarter comeback, Love has completed just 55.5 percent of his 110 pass attempts. He is averaging only 6.2 yards per attempt, which over that span ranks 28th, and he’s thrown two touchdowns to six interceptions.
As a unit, the Packers are averaging just 17 points per game over the last three weeks and have been held to a total of six points over the three combined first halves of play.
Yes, Love has to be better at the end of the day. Specifically with his accuracy and, as of late, his decision-making. But with that said, everything going on around him has been chaotic, to say the least, making his job all the more difficult.
The offense, in particular, has been hit with injuries. There has been only one game where Green Bay had both Christian Watson and Aaron Jones on the field together, and both were on a snap count. The offensive line has been without David Bakhtiari since Week 1, and Elgton Jenkins missed roughly 2.5 games–not to mention that Zach Tom and Jon Runyan have been banged up as well.
There has not been a run game for Love and the offense to lean on. Currently, the Packers rank 25th, averaging just 3.5 yards per rush, a figure that Love has helped inflate with some scrambles of his own. Without a reliable run game, Love is facing a steady dose of second and third-and-long situations where the defense has the advantage, knowing he’s going to pass the ball. In those situations, the pass rush can pin its ears back, and from the offense’s perspective, there are only so many routes that can be ran when seven-plus yards are needed.
The offensive line in pass protection in the last two games has struggled as well. Love was pressured on nearly 50 percent of his dropbacks against Detroit and on over one-third of them against Las Vegas. After facing little pressure the first three games, his internal clock, in terms of how much time he has in the pocket, has had to adjust on the fly. Love has gone from often having all the time he needs to sometimes not even being able to make it to his second progression, impacting his decision-making, which can lead to more forced throws. When pressure gets home quickly, it doesn’t really matter what the play call is at that point.
