The Green Bay Packers enter their Week 6 bye at 2-3 a quarter of the way into the season. They’ve had a couple of exciting wins and a few excruciating losses, but overall the team has not played well outside of the win over the Chicago Bears in Week 1. They blew a 12-point lead against the Atlanta Falcons and lost. They also came back from down 17 in the fourth quarter against the New Orleans Saints and won, the Detroit Lions flat-out outplayed them, and they came up short offensively against the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Packers probably should be 1-4 entering the bye.
Overall, the defense has played well enough to allow the Packers to win, and the special teams have not done anything to lose a game (yet). The offense is the unit that is most responsible for the three losses.
There are a lot of factors that could contribute to Green Bay’s offensive woes over the past month. One is that Green Bay has a brand new, young receiving corps. Another is that Aaron Jones has been hurt for a few games, and AJ Dillon cannot carry the offense as a No. 1 running back. A third is the injuries that they have had on the offensive line, especially with David Bakhtiari on injured reserve for the season.
But Jordan Love has been the most compelling factor in their offensive struggles.
As good as Love looked during Week 1 and the first three quarters of Week 2, he has struggled mightily since they played the Saints in Week 3. The biggest struggle of his so far has been targeting the middle of the field. He will take a deep shot here and there. But when he doesn’t, he mostly throws checkdowns and short completions.
Through the last three games, Love has completed 61 passes for 687 passing yards, or just over 11 yards per completion. On paper, this sounds as if he attacks the middle of the field, but that stat doesn’t account for yards after the catch and the deep throws that he’s completed. Take those out of the equation, and his yards per completion go down.
Love is throwing to a young and inexperienced reciver corps. Perhaps they aren’t running their routes correctly, or maybe they are having trouble getting open in coverage.
But you also have to remember that Romeo Doubs has shown flashes of being a star wide receiver, and so has Christian Watson. Rookies Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks have also shown signs of being potential playmakers.
However, Love has the ability to hit deep passes and the potential to complete medium-range passes over the middle. If he is to improve throwing in that range, Love needs to trust his receivers more and not get into his own head while in the pocket.
Love tends to spend quite a bit of time inside of the pocket, either waiting for a play to develop or not sure where to go. He has the ability to get outside of the pocket and make a play with his legs, as shown below. But he occasionally dances in the pocket like a statue.
It’s unfair to blame Love’s pocket presence solely on him, as Green Bay’s offensive line has suffered injuries. Love could also be feeling more pressure carrying the offensive load due to Aaron Jones and Dillon’s lack of production.
But Love needs to continue to extend plays and be creative. We saw a little bit of that against the Raiders with the risks that he took in the air. But it did not pay off, as he threw three interceptions.
I’m not saying that Jordan Love isn’t the answer in Green Bay. It is only his first season as the starting quarterback. But he needs to relax in the pocket and not try to be Aaron Rodgers if he is to be the answer. If he can develop a true peace of mind on the field, he can make plays like he showed against the Chicago Bears and the fourth quarter against the Saints.
The good news here is that Love and the Packers have an off week to gather and extensively prepare themselves, physically and mentally, for their Week 7 matchup against the 1-5 Denver Broncos. If Love can feel more in control of the field and the offense, he should take the first step to turning around the season next week.
