Green Bay Packers

Improving Green Bay's Offense Starts With Putting Love Under Center

Photo Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Jordan Love completed 57% of his passes on true dropbacks in 2024, with 15 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, 7.5 yards per attempt, and a 77.6 passer rating. True dropbacks exclude play-action, RPOs, and screens. Among all quarterbacks on true dropbacks, that ranks 26th in completion percentage, 27th in passer rating, and the worst touchdown-to-interception ratio among all starters.

Love operated mostly out of the shotgun in the Wild Card game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He completed 60% of his passes with no touchdowns and three interceptions. The Green Bay Packers scored zero first-half points and had to play from behind against a top team — again.

Green Bay should not rely heavily on the shotgun, especially because its offense is at its best when operating under center.

Love was one of the NFL’s most efficient quarterbacks using play action in 2023. He ranked third in passing yards, tied for fourth in touchdowns, and posted the sixth-best completion percentage among quarterbacks with at least 60 dropbacks. Love also had the fourth-most first downs and a 113.7 passer rating. Under-center play action was a cornerstone of Green Bay’s offense and a key reason for their late-season run.

During the offseason, Green Bay signed Josh Jacobs, a younger back than Aaron Jones and a better fit for the workload-heavy role the Packers sought. His addition would have helped Matt LaFleur expand the playbook and make the offense more dynamic. However, Love’s MCL injury in Brazil derailed that plan, forcing Green Bay to rely more on a shotgun-centric offense.

Even when Love was healthy, LaFleur’s offense seemed to drift away from its identity. Love operated mostly from the shotgun, and LaFleur’s play-calling did little to help the situation. Green Bay relied too heavily on long-developing concepts, often leaving the offense stagnant and struggling to sustain drives.

It was always the same five-step dropback with at least two downfield routes, no play action, no RPOs, and no creativity. LaFleur compensated with creative run designs, but the imbalance between the passing and rushing offenses was too much for Green Bay’s offense to overcome against top teams.

Green Bay ran only four total under-center play-action passes across four games against the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings, and it was no coincidence they fell into big deficits in three of those matchups. On Sunday against the Eagles, they ran no more than two.

Green Bay’s abandonment of under-center concepts and intermediate play-action attacks crippled the offense. It was always either a quick-designed screen or a deep shot downfield. Where were the plays for tight ends over the middle? Or crossing routes to exploit man coverage? The passing game became so basic and easy for defenses to predict.

Matt LaFleur is a good head coach and has earned job security. The Packers improved from eight wins in 2022 to nine in 2023 and 11 in 2024. However, he’ll need to do some serious self-scouting this offseason. Green Bay’s offensive identity relies on getting under center, running the football, and using play action to attack between the numbers, and it’s okay to embrace that.

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