Spencer Rattler will be the fourth New Orleans Saints quarterback to start against the Green Bay Packers in as many games:
The New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers are about to play each other for the fourth time in the last five years, and the Saints have never started the same quarterback in any of those matchups. This is indicative of life after Drew Brees.
Ironically, the Packers have been a picture of consistency at quarterback. They went from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. The Saints haven’t been nearly as fortunate post-Brees. While the Packers have found their quarterback of the future, New Orleans has struggled to find the quarterback of the present.
Brees started against the Packers in 2020. Since then, Jameis Winston, Derek Carr and soon to be Spencer Rattler have started against Green Bay.
Winston started in the 2021 season opener against Green Bay and relieved an injured Carr in 2023. He’s the only quarterback to play twice in this stretch, but he didn’t start both games.
It’s amazing what two healthy legs can do for a quarterback who thrives at extending plays and creating under pressure.
It’s amazing what two healthy legs can do for a quarterback who thrives at extending plays and creating under pressure.
Since getting over knee and groin injuries during the bye week, Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love has been a much different quarterback in the face of pressure over the last five games.
Consider these numbers.
Since Week 11, Love ranks third among quarterbacks in completion percentage (63.0), second in yards per attempt (9.6), fourth in pressure to sack percentage (7.7) and second in passer rating (116.3) when under pressure. And Love has been under pressure on 41.3 percent of dropbacks over the last five games, which ranks as the sixth highest.
Despite all that pressure, Love has thrown zero interceptions under pressure since the bye. He’s been safe with the football and deadly efficient despite facing the most difficult spot for a quarterback — pressure — on almost 40 percent of dropbacks.
There’s no doubt that knee and groin injuries hindered Love during the first nine games. Over the first nine games, Love played in six games. He ranked 31st in completion percentage (40.7), fourth in yards per attempt (8.1), first in pressure to sack percentage (10.0) and 26th in passer rating (57.3). He threw four interceptions while only being pressured only 31.0 percent of dropbacks.
Beating pressure separates the good from the great at quarterback. Playing from clean pockets is hugely important — and Love ranks first in yards per attempt without facing pressure since the bye — but the best quarterbacks can avoid negative plays and even create positive plays when the blocking up front breaks down.
There will be terrific defensive fronts awaiting Love in the NFC playoffs. Surviving that gauntlet will almost certainly require the quarterback to play well in a couple of big pressure spots. With knee and groin injuries in the past, Love has proven himself capable again of performing like one of the NFL’s best against pressure.
Over the last four games, Packers QB Jordan Love has been one of the NFL’s most efficient and effective passers. He’s catching fire again to end 2024.
The Green Bay Packers might be coming off a disappointing defeat to the Detroit Lions last Thursday night, but one positive trend continued — and it might represent the most important factor as Matt LaFleur’s team approaches postseason play.
Quarterback Jordan Love is continuing to catch fire as a passer.
Since coming out of the bye, or over the last four games, Love has completed 59 of 88 passes for 904 yards, six touchdown passes and just one interception. His efficiency throwing the football is off the charts.
Between Weeks 11-14, Love ranks…
— First in yards per attempt at 10.3
— Third in passer rating at 118.8
— Eighth in adjusted completion percentage at 79.3
— Second in EPA generated per play at 0.438
— Second in yards per attempt when under pressure at 10.5
— First in yards per attempt when kept clean in the pocket at 10.1
Love ranks only ninth in touchdown passes, but remember that Josh Jacobs has an NFL-high eight rushing touchdowns over the last four games (no other running back has more than five). The Packers have used Jacobs and the run game to help solve some of the team’s red-zone issues — especially inside the 10-yard line — over the last month.
Finally over knee and groin injuries, Love has regained mobility and accuracy and once again transformed into one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks — just as he did during an incredible stretch to end last season.
Coach Matt LaFleur sees a quarterback getting better and better the more he’s on the field.
“I thought he had an outstanding game (in Detroit),” LaFleur said Monday. “I just think Jordan, the more he plays, the better he gets. His mechanics have improved, I think he really focused on that over the last few weeks, and he’s playing better. It’s funny how that works. He’s doing a great job moving in the pocket, when things are there, it’s almost been automatic for him. So we need that to continue for us to get us where we want to go. I am happy with how he’s playing, he’s playing decisive, doing a good job getting the ball out of his hands. We need him to continue to do that.”
Arguably nothing is important for postseason success than a hot quarterback, and Love is heating up at just the right time.
The next three weeks will provide a nice test for Love’s ascendence. The Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings all rank in the top half of the NFL in terms of EPA allowed per dropback in the passing game over the last month. In fact, the Seahawks — who have won four straight games — rank No. 1 since Week 11.
Can Love stay hot during a tough stretch, lead the Packers into the postseason and do some damage as a passer against the NFC playoff field?
Don’t let one of the most insane throws of Jordan Love’s career be forgotten from Thursday night’s loss to the Lions.
Don’t let one of the most insane throws of Jordan Love’s NFL career get lost in Thursday night’s disappointing 34-31 defeat to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
The throw didn’t result in a touchdown, and it went down in the box score as nothing more than a completion to Christian Watson for 29 yards. But to see the play is to understand the difficulty and greatness of the full sequence from the Green Bay Packers quarterback.
The situation: 2nd-and-14 from Green Bay’s 26-yard line, 7:57 to go in the fourth quarter, Packers trailing 31-28.
The Lions brought linebacker Jack Campbell on a blitz through the A-gap, and Campbell cleanly beat running back Josh Jacobs and had a free run at Love in the pocket. In danger of taking a back-breaking sack in a huge spot, Love stepped to his left and ducked his right shoulder under Campbell, momentarily evading the pressure and buying a second of time. Instead of attempting to escape the pocket and run, Love reset his feet and somehow delivered a perfectly layered and accurate throw to Watson despite being hit or pressured from both his front and back. And this wasn’t an easy throw — first-round pick Terrion Arnold was running stride for stride with Watson in single coverage, and the window to fit in the throw was maybe the size of a cereal box. But Love got it past the out-stretched arms and Arnold, giving Watson to a chance to create a big play on a drive that ended up tying the game at 31.
Had Love been sacked, the game might’ve been over. The Packers would have been facing third-and-forever and likely would have punted the ball back to the Lions with around seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. And it wouldn’t have been too surprising if Campbell — a first-round linebacker — got Love wrapped up and to the ground for the sack given his path to the quarterback on the blitz.
Instead, Love’s evasive maneuvering and incredible completion under pressure turned a negative play into an explosive gain, and the Packers had 1st-and-10 from the Lions’ 45.
This play will be easy to forget given the fact it wasn’t a scoring play and the Packers eventually lost the game. But it should be remembered. In fact, one could argue — given the situation and difficulty of the play overall — that this now represents one of the very best plays of Love’s career so far.
Despite a slow start, Love ended up completing 12 of 20 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 10.3 yards per attempt, didn’t have a turnover and finished with a passer rating of 111.7 and a season-best QBR of 92.4.
Packers QB Jordan Love didn’t throw an interception against the 49ers, snapping his NFL-long streak of eight straight games to start 2024.
After eight games, the interception streak of Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love to start the 2024 season finally ended on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.
Love attempted 23 passes in the 38-10 win over the 49ers. None were intercepted, although the 49ers did get their hands on three passes and PFF charted Love with two “turnover-worthy plays.”
So ended Love’s eight-game streak with an interception, the longest in the NFL this season and the longest since Josh Allen threw an interception in nine straight games during the 2023 season.
Love threw an interception in each of his first eight starts of 2024 and had 11 total during the streak, including two pick-sixes, but the Packers went 5-3 in the eight games. Earlier this season, Patrick Mahomes had a 7-game streak with an interception. Matthew Stafford got to six. Will Levis got to five.
The quarterbacks with current active interception streaks are Drake Maye, Geno Smith, Josh Allen and Andy Dalton, who have all thrown an interception in four straight games. With six weeks to go, all four quarterbacks have a chance to pass Love’s streak for the longest of 2024.
Last year, Love ended the regular season with only one interception in his final eight games, including streaks of three games and four games without an interception. Can he go on another impressive interception-free run to end the 2024 season?
Quarterback Jordan Love is the Green Bay Packers’ nominee for the 2024 Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award.
Quarterback Jordan Love is the Green Bay Packers’ nominee for the 2024 Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award, an honor recognizing a player who best “demonstrates the qualities of on-field sportsmanship, including fair play, respect for the game and opponents and integrity in competition.”
All 32 teams get one nominee. For the past three years, running back Aaron Jones was the Packers’ nominee. Now, Love will represent the Packers, while Jones is the nominee for the Minnesota Vikings.
Love, a 2020 first-round pick, is in his fifth season in the NFL and second as starter for the Packers.
A panel featuring former NFL players Warrick Dunn, Larry Fitzgerald, Curtis Martin and Leonard Wheeler will determine the eight finalists — four from the AFC, four from the NFC — from the 32 nominees. After the finalists are established, current NFL players will vote for the winner — using a consensus vote from each team.
Jones was a finalist in 2022. The Packers have never had a player win the award.
The award has been active since 2014 and is named after founding Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr.
Evaluating an encouraging performance from Jordan Love in the Packers’ win over the Bears on Sunday.
He’ll want back a red-zone throw that sailed on him, but Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love produced an otherwise encouraging performance during Sunday’s 20-19 win over the Chicago Bears.
Save for the one miss that led to an interception, Love was accurate. He hit a pair of deep passes down the field. He was perfect on passes over 10 yards in the air. He was perfect on passes under pressure. He looked more comfortable throwing from a base platform and more mobile outside the pocket. And he led the Packers on a go-ahead touchdown drive late.
Love completed 13 of 17 passes for 261 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He averaged 15.4 yards per attempt and 20.0 yards per completion.
Factoring in one throwaway and one drop, Love’s adjusted completion percentage was 87.5 — his best of the season.
He connected on two passes thrown over 20 yards — one on a 25-yarder to Christian Watson setting up a touchdown, and another on a 48-yarder in which Watson made a contested catch between two defenders.
Love was perfect on passes over 10 yards in the air, completing all six pass attempts for 182 yards and a touchdown.
Under pressure, Love was 8-for-8 passing for 185 yards — averaging an incredible 23.1 yards per attempt — with two scrambles, including one that set up his go-ahead touchdown run in the fourth quarter. A play prior, Love hung in the pocket and delivered a strike to Watson just before getting hit, leading to a 60-yard explosive play.
The catch-and-run play from Watson here is awesome. The highlight of the play no doubt.
Don't miss the touch from Jordan Love to feather this ball to give Watson a chance as he's taking a shot right in the chops. Gorgeous. pic.twitter.com/F8Bci4NjOk
In the first half, Love fired a fastball to Jayden Reed on a free play for a score. He threw from a perfect base. Later, he made a terrific throw from a muddy pocket to Watson to convert 3rd-and-11. Both times, Love stepped into the throw and put some juice on the ball. At least four different times, Love was able to break contain of the pocket and extend a play off-schedule, including one where he stepped up to his right and found Romeo Doubs for 17 yards. It was clear the knee and the groin felt a lot better post-bye.
With the game in the balance, Love engineered the touchdown drive, hitting Watson for the big play and then using his legs to do the rest.
The interception was a poor play. Love had Tucker Kraft open on 3rd-and-11, and a good throw might have allowed the tackle-breaking tight end to get to the sticks and extend the drive. Instead, the throw sailed, the Bears picked it off and the game quickly swung Chicago’s way. The interception extended Love’s streak to eight games with an interception to start the 2024 season.
But the pick was an aberration when evaluating Love’s overall performance at Soldier Field on Sunday.
Love missed on four passes against the Bears. One was a deflection from Jaylon Johnson on an underneath pass. One was a throwaway. One was a drop from Doubs on third down. One was the pick.
Against a strong passing defense, Love consistently led the Packers down the field. The red-zone performance might get better, of course. The interception and a turnover on downs — when Love had to scramble on back-to-back plays — resulted in zero points on two of the five trips inside the 20. But in a low-possession game, the Packers moved the ball consistently.
For a second, forget the results. To get hot, the Packers needed Love to be more accurate and more mobile, and coach Matt LaFleur was confident that Love getting healthy during the bye would likely solve some of the lingering issues in the passing game. Sunday was just one game, but Love looked healthy, more accurate and more mobile, and the Packers turned only 17 passing attempts into 261 yards. More progression is required, especially in the red zone, but an encouraging overall performance in Chicago from a finally healthy quarterback could lay the groundwork for Love and the Packers taking off in a big way over the final seven games.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw a first-half interception on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, extending his NFL-long interception streak to eight games to start the 2024 season.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw a first-half interception on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, extending his NFL-long interception streak to eight games to start the 2024 season.
On third down in the red zone, Love sailed a pass intended for tight end Tucker Kraft, and Terrell Smith made the interception at the 1-yard line.
Love has thrown an interception in all eight starts in 2024.
The interception cost the Packers at least three points. With a better throw, Kraft could have made the catch and potentially picked up the first down to extend the drive inside the red zone. Instead, the turnover gave the ball back to the Bears with no points scored.
The Packers had 2nd-and-1 from the Bears’ 5-yard line. But a penalty backed the offense five yards, and Jayden Reed got dumped for a 5-yard loss one play later, setting up 3rd-and-long. The interception arrived on 3rd-and-11.
According to Rob Demovsky of ESPN, Love’s 8-game interception streak is the longest by a Packers quarterback since Brett Favre threw an interception in 10 straight games in 2005.
Love now has an NFL-high 11 interceptions this season. He threw 11 interceptions across 17 starts as a first-year starter in 2023.
Including the postseason, Love has thrown an interception in nine straight games.
Packers QB Jordan Love practiced in full this week and will play Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love practiced fully throughout the week and will play without injury concern against the Chicago Bears during Week 11 of the 2024 season. Love first injured his knee in Week 1 and missed two games, and he suffered a minor groin injury in Week 8 that limited him in Week 9. Coming out of the bye, Love appears to have put both injuries behind him. He will make his eighth start of the season on Sunday at Soldier Field (noon, FOX).
Jordan Love injury update
Love practiced in a full capacity on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week and has no playing status designation for Sunday’s showdown in Chicago. He previously played against the Detroit Lions in Week 9 despite being listed as questionable with an injured groin. The Packers believe Love will be more accurate and more mobile now that knee and groin injuries are mostly healed coming out of the bye.
What does this mean for Jordan Love?
Two healthy legs and a full week of practice should mean the Packers get the best version of Love moving forward. His mobility has been limited, both inside the pocket and outside the pocket on extended plays. And because of the two injuries, Love has missed at least a full month of practice time during the week leading up to games. That’s a tough combo for a young starter. Having enhanced movement ability and a full week of reps could mean Love is closer to the top-10 passer he was to end last season.
Jordan Love stats
Over seven starts, Love has completed 147 of 240 passes (61.3 percent) for 1,820 yards (7.6 per attempt), 15 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. His passer rating is 88.2. He threw multiple touchdown passes during each of his first five starts, but he also has an interception thrown in all seven starts. His accuracy has been inconsistent at times. While excellent from clean pockets, pressure has greatly affected him, possibly due to the injuries and limited mobility.
Who is Packers backup QB?
Love is healthy and will start, but the Packers have a capable backup option in Malik Willis, who led Matt LaFleur’s team to a pair of wins as a starter and helped the Packers engineer a game-winning drive in Jacksonville. Willis has completed almost 75 percent of his passes and averaged 9.7 yards per attempt while throwing three touchdown passes without an interception. His passer rating is 130.3. Willis has also rushed for 137 yards and a touchdown.
Packers QB Jordan Love was a full participant during Wednesday’s practice, the first coming out of the bye. Matt LaFleur thinks he’ll have better mobility and accuracy moving forward.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love used the bye week to put knee and groin injuries in the rear-view mirror, and coach Matt LaFleur is hopeful that a full week of practice leading into games will be “beneficial” for the second-year starter down the stretch in 2024.
Love injured the MCL in his left knee in Week 1 and missed two games, and then he suffered a groin injury in Week 8 and missed practices before the Packers’ loss to the Detroit Lions before the bye. The first half of the Packers’ season was marred by inconsistency on offense, which can be at least partly blamed on the lingering injury issues faced by the quarterback.
LaFleur thinks Love — who was a full participant at Wednesday’s practice — will have better mobility and accuracy with two healthy legs moving forward.
“When you’re limited in your lower half as a quarterback, that can have a big effect on your ability to move around in the pocket or throw accurately. So it’ll be good to get him some practice under his belt where he’s fully healthy,” LaFleur said Wednesday. “That’s the other thing, going back to last game, he didn’t practice the full week. Confident that a full week’s worth of practice and just stacking those days will definitely be beneficial for him.”
Love has missed at least a month’s worth of practice due to injuries this season. LaFleur hopes full and consistent availability at practice can turn his quarterback from good to great to end 2024.
Love has completed 61.3 percent of his passes, thrown 10 interceptions and scrambled only five times in seven starts this season. The Packers passing game has left a lot of production out of the field via either inaccurate throws or dropped passes, and Love being slightly more accurate could help unlock consistency over the final eight games.
Also, moving around in the pocket and extending plays were big parts of Love’s second-half surge last season. With the knee and groin injuries healed or healing, Love could be more mobile down the stretch.
Can Love and the Packers start catching fire coming out of the bye? The first test arrives Sunday in Chicago.
