In the first half of the Green Bay Packers’ Sunday game against the New Orleans Saints, Packers quarterback Jordan Love completed just seven of 16 passes for 74 yards. The Packers were down 17-0 when they went in the tunnel, and this looked like it could be a blowout. Dennis Allen’s Saints defense is maybe the best in the NFL at tying pressure to match coverage, and Love was having all kinds of problems with it.
Then, in the second half, Love completed 15 of 28 passes for 185 yards, one touchdown, and one interception — still not amazing numbers, but the ways in which he was able to make tight-window vertical throws in the second half turned out to be a major factor in Green Bay’s 18-17 comeback win.
The first big-time throw came with 1:53 left in the third quarter, and Love made a brilliant 30-yard pass to backside slot receiver Romeo Doubs out of a five-wide empty look against the Saints’ Cover-3. Love did a great job of maintaining the concept despite the Saints’ flip from two-high to single-high, but also against safety Tyrann Mathieu disrupting the timing of the route after he dropped down.
The second big play came with 12:30 left in the fourth quarter against Cover-1. Cornerback Alontae Taylor was in aggressive man coverage against rookie receiver Jayden Reed, who pushed back on Taylor’s bumpage until he broke outside. Taylor stumbled for a split second, and that’s how you get a 22-yard completion.
The third big play came with 4:13 left in the game, and this 30-yard completion helped to set up Love’s game-winning touchdown pass to Doubs with 2:59 left on the clock. This was Reed against Taylor again — this time, from the frontside outside slot. And Reed did two important things against Taylor on this play — he took outside leverage well, and he got a subtle push in Taylor (Saints fans may debate the definition of “subtle” here) to get open just enough for Love’s deep pass.
“I think we were just going [into] two-minute mode, going a little bit faster and taking some more shots downfield,” Love said after the game of the difference in the second half. “We were getting a lot of man-to-man coverage and receivers were just capitalizing on those opportunities and just making plays for us.”
Love also had high praise for Doubs and Reed.
“Those guys are special. They made some great plays when we needed it most. That’s a credit to everybody. It wasn’t perfect a lot of that game, but guys never flinched and they showed out, showed up and they played to the end.”
The Detroit Lions, who face off against the Packers in Thursday night, have allowed seven opponent completions of 16 or more air yards (the NFL’s definition of an explosive passing play) on 11 attempts for 177 yards per Sports Info Solutions, so that’s something to watch.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into why Love is able to succeed in these concepts, and how the Lions’ defense will be challenged to stop him — especially with those bang-on downfield throws.
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You can watch this week’s full “Xs and Os” video with all the key matchups for Week 4 right here:
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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
…and on Apple Podcasts.