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From Week 1 to the end of Week 3 of OTAs, it’s about progression. The Green Bay Packers begin by laying the foundation for what they want their offense to be with the basic installs and then build upon that each day. One noticeable difference in the third open media practice compared to the first two was that Jordan Love was using a hard count heavily.
During the red zone drills specifically is when Love was using the hard count frequently and oftentimes on multiple plays in a row. He was quite effective with it as well. Although there weren’t any plays where the defense fully jumped offsides, there were a few instances where the hard count tipped the defense’s hand, which included identifying blitzers along with some late movement by the defense as well. However, there were also two plays where the offensive line jumped offsides on the hard count.
Following Tuesday’s practice, I asked Love if there was an added emphasis that day on using the hard count.
“It’s definitely been an emphasis that I’ve been trying to just build and keep working,” said Love. “I think it’s good for everybody on the defense being able to hear the different cadences. The more we can be on the same page, because we have some mistakes, we jump offsides because maybe my cadence might not be perfect how I want it. At the same time, we are trying to work that, trying to see if the defense is jumping offsides, and see if my cadence is good enough at this time. This is the time we want to work it. Keep building on the different cadences. It’s definitely an emphasis right now.”
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Aaron Rodgers was, of course, a master of the hard count. Throughout his tenure with the Packers, even when defenses knew to be on the lookout for it, his hard count led to countless free plays by getting a defender to jump offsides. But towards the end of his tenure, we saw it become less effective. In part, defenses were better prepared for it, but also, the closer the play clock gets to hitting zero, the less effective it becomes.
Utilizing a hard count isn’t anything that’s new for Love. It was a part of his game in college at Utah State, and he’s now in his fourth season with the Packers, utilizing it in practices and the preseason prior to these OTAs while having the opportunity to learn from one of the best at it in Rodgers.
However, as is the case for any first-time starter, like anything, it still needs fine-tuning. The offensive line also has to get used to what Love’s cadence is so that they aren’t jumping offsides during games, and from a practice standpoint, it’s also a good way to test the defense. Getting in and out of the huddle quickly — something Matt LaFleur has been watching closely during OTAs — will be an important aspect as well, so there is time on the play clock for Love to put the hard count into use.
“Once you learn something, it’s easy to keep going and keep building on it, but at the same time, I’ve been doing that cadence for three years now. I think it’s easiest for everybody to keep it the same, but for me especially, I like keeping it the same. It’s what I’ve been doing.”
Continuing to hone in on this aspect of playing the quarterback position will be important for Love in his first season starting. There are the obvious reasons in that doing so will give the offense some downfield opportunities on free plays and that the offensive line needs to be comfortable with his cadence so that there aren’t any false start penalties as a result of using it. But going back to Tuesday’s practice, a good hard count can give the offense a better idea of what the defense is doing, and for a young quarterback with young pass catchers, that additional information pre-snap can be invaluable.