Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw one of the wildest-looking interceptions of the young 2024 season on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.
Facing unexpected pressure on a designed rollout play into the end zone, Love took a hit and attempted to get rid of the ball before going down, and his throwaway toward the sideline was intercepted and returned a few yards for a go-ahead pick-six in the first half.
Here’s the play:
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1843041518875300115
Ok, so what really happened to cause this chaotic play?
It’s important to understand all the dynamics in play.
For starters, the playcall is designed for Love to roll out to his right. This is important because it creates the illusion of a half-field read, when in reality this is a throwback pass designed for an out-breaking receiver to the left side of field.
Second, there is a clear blown protection. Rasheed Walker and Josh Jacobs didn’t get it sorted out on the left side of the protection call, and the Rams got a free runner at Love. This is important because Love isn’t ever expecting pressure to his blindside. When he sets to throw back to his left, the free pass-rusher is right on him.
Unfortunately for Love, the pass-rusher attempts to bowl him over instead of tackle him, and Love momentarily kept his footing, creating an opportunity to throw the ball away. Sensing he was about to go down, Love flipped the ball in the direction of Tucker Kraft, who was kept in to block and not an expecting receiver. Love said he attempted to throw the ball out of bounds, but he lacked the power going to the ground and it ended up in play.
There’s no way Kraft could have expected where the ball ended up. The Rams defender in the vicinity had a much better opportunity to track the ball and make the pick, and then Kraft couldn’t get him on the ground to prevent the touchdown.
The really unfortunate part of the play is the Packers had a receiver open down the field. It was third-and-long, and there was a chunk play to be had if the Packers blocked up the pass-rush.
Love said he should have done a better job keeping the ball out of harm’s way on the throwaway, and he realized that a safety — which would have handed the Rams two points and the ball — is probably better than a pick-six.
It would have been interesting to see this play unfold correctly. The Packers had more than enough blockers to handle the pass-rush. They got man-to-man coverage. The sprint out to the right and the route combination down the field created a good look. If protected, Love could have turned, set his feet and ripped the ball to his left, potentially creating another explosive play.
Instead, the protection blew up, the quarterback faced unexpected and immediate pressure, and a hit on the quarterback created an incredibly unlucky result.
A quarterback’s No. 1 job is to protect the ball, and Love failed in that regard. But it took failures around him to create the chaos of Sunday’s pick-six at SoFi Stadium. The sloppy Packers got stung on a play that should have been avoided.