Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love announced himself to the football world as a potentially special player at the game’s most important position during Sunday’s 48-32 win over the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
One specific play — a game-changing touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks in the second quarter — highlighted just how well Love is playing and how special Love could be at quarterback.
Coach Matt LaFleur said the play was the ultimate display of how much Love has grown between his first start in Kansas City in 2021 and Sunday’s playoff win in Dallas.
“The touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks…it was an all-out look, we were in an empty set. He had Tucker (Kraft) max-protect, and that was a great job by Tuck and the rest of our offensive line. For him to hang in there, and get that throw, and Wicks made a hell of a catch,” LaFleur explained post-game Sunday. “Those are things that, you try to coach it, but what a moment for him. That was a big-time play. It just shows the growth he’s had from his first start vs. KC to now. Just so happy and proud of him. He’s a dude. He’s a real dude.”
Here are the All-22 views of the play:
“That Cover-0 play that he ripped the post to Wicks. That was one of those plays, you could sit there and watch that all day long,” LaFleur said Monday.
What made this play so special? For starters, it’s a touchdown pass on 3rd-and-7 from the 20-yard line. That’s big time no matter the process. The score gave the Packers a 20-0 lead and the blowout was on.
Three specific parts turned this into a truly special play.
First, the cadence.
At roughly the 10-second mark on the playclock, Love used his cadence at the line of scrimmage to get the Cowboys to show their hand pre-snap. It’s clear, based on the movement of the two linebackers, that the Cowboys are bringing pressure. There are few things more important to a quarterback than gathering the maximum information possible before the snap. Knowing the blitz is on, Love can move to the next step…
…changing the protection.
At the 8-second mark, Love starts fixing the protection. He tells Tucker Kraft to stay in to block and re-arranges the blocking assignments of the offensive line to account for the two blitzing linebackers. Running back Patrick Taylor is split off to the left side of the line, giving the Packers seven blockers to take on six rushers.
In a matter of roughly five seconds, Love changed the protection and got Jayden Reed in motion to begin the play. The Packers snapped the ball with about two seconds to go on the playclock. Game on.
Love knows pre-snap he’s likely getting man coverage. And he knows he’s going to need an extra second for Wicks to win on the deep post.
It’s one thing to know. It’s another thing to stand in there against a six-man pressure and deliver a strike with the pass-rush in your face. While Love fixed the protection, the play wasn’t blocked perfectly. At least two of the six rushers won and were bearing down on Love, including a linebacker who got a free run after beating Sean Rhyan.
The quarterback’s finish under pressure was extraordinary.
Love retreated to the 32-yard line, planted his feet and delivered a perfectly layered ball over the trailing cornerback (veteran Stephon Gilmore) and into the hands of Wicks, who made a leaping catch for the score. Wicks may be a rookie, but few corners are staying with him one-on-one on a long-developing in-breaking route. He’s too deceptive and too quick. Long threw a perfect ball with a linebacker (No. 14) leaping into his face.
This was not a play you would expect from a first-year starting quarterback playing his first playoff game. In a huge situation, Love won pre-snap and post-snap and created a game-changing play. He used cadence to learn information, quick thinking to change the protection and fearlessness and precision to make the throw. Back in 2021, the Chiefs blitzed Love to death. A few years later, the same quarterback had all the right answers to a Cowboys blitz in a pivotal moment of a playoff game.