A quick completion to Aaron Jones. A fastball exploiting Luke Musgrave crossing the defense. A fly sweep to Jayden Reed. Play action and a tight end screen. Those are all relatively easy plays for a quarterback, and that’s how Matt LaFleur started the first two drives in which Jordan Love made his debut as QB1 against the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday.
Slow starts had been a theme for Love during training camp. However, the first-year quarterback usually can bounce back and finish strong. Therefore, a big challenge for the Green Bay Packers’ offensive coaching staff is to ease the first part of games to allow Love to settle in and do what he does best. That’s exactly what happened in Green Bay’s first preseason action.
LaFleur was intentional in finding ways to facilitate Love’s operation of the offense early on, and that paid off — even if it was a small sample size of 10 passing plays. In two of the last three attempts, the quarterback had already a better rhythm and could execute plays at a higher level of complexity.
“All in all, I was really impressed by how [Jordan Love] handled himself out there,” LaFleur said. “He looked confident. He was in total control.”
The first scrimmage play of the game was a small surprise. Few expected Aaron Jones to play, but he received a quick ball in the flat. First-read, easy throw. Love didn’t have to handle any pressure, and Jones was wide open to gain seven yards.
The second play was also a simple one for the quarterback. After the snap, rookie tight end Luke Musgrave used his elite speed to cross the field behind the offensive line. Love faked the handoff and made another easy throw, enough to get a first down.
Later, the Packers ran with A.J. Dillon and tried a deep shot to Christian Watson, which the Cincinnati defense broke up. But the main idea was established: LaFleur would draw up simple tasks for Love to gain confidence and then call shot plays trying to generate an explosive offense.
In the second drive, the Packers’ play-caller followed the same logic. The first play was a fly sweep. Easy completion from Love to Jayden Reed, who’s shown his ability to stretch the field horizontally throughout training camp.
The following play didn’t work out, but it was intended to be easy. Musgrave sold a block and went into a delayed route to receive a tight end screen, but Bengals defensive end Jeffrey Gunter was able to get a deflection. The Packers kept the chains moving with a quick out to Watson.
Later, the Packers’ offense made their only operational mistake while Love was on the field with a false start courtesy of center Josh Myers. But they followed that flub with an 11-yard run by Dillon, making it a manageable situation once again. At that point, Love was more comfortable and ready to execute difficult plays in the red zone, where the field is condensed. Two of Love’s last three attempts were challenging. He had a strong throw to Romeo Doubs after a rollout and the touchdown to Doubs
“I had fun in there,” Love highlighted after the game. “Two series, I think it was a great time just getting back, getting a feel for the game. I think it was a good time to take me out right there. That’s really all we needed.”
The Green Bay Packers will still have two preseason games, one against the New England Patriots and one against the Seattle Seahawks — both at Lambeau Field. The team will also have joint practices this week with the Patriots. Those are all important opportunities for Love and the offense to get in rhythm and test their playbook.
By Week 1, it’s imperative that the Packers have some easy plays under their sleeve to settle Love in during his first exposure as the true full-time starting quarterback. On the other side, it’s clear the Chicago Bears will do the same for Justin Fields. They showed that in their first preseason game against the Tennessee Titans. He transformed a seven-air-yard performance into 129 yards and two touchdowns with yards gained after the reception by Chicago’s offensive weapons.
The Packers value Love and think he can be a true franchise quarterback. But that doesn’t mean he needs to do Aaron Rodgers‘ reads and throws right out of the gate. If LaFleur can manufacture some plays early on, a confident version of Jordan Love will have a much better chance of maximizing Green Bay’s offense.
