One of the most positive aspects of Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love’s development in the 2023 season is how he’s performed against the blitz. Against five or more pass-rushers this season, Love had completed 80 of 130 passes for 859 yards, 479 air yards, six touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 93.1. Against the Kansas City Chiefs in Green Bay’s 27-19 Week 13, Love had 15 dropbacks against the blitz, and 11 completions on 15 attempts for 91 yards, 39 air yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 128.1.
This will serve him very well when the Packers play the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, and Love has to deal with Wink Martindale’s pressure concepts.
Only the Vikings have a higher blitz rate this season (47.6%) than the Giants’ 41.0%. But while the Vikings have allowed 10 touchdowns to two interceptions and an opponent passer rating of 114.5 when sending five or more rushers, the Giants have allowed just two touchdowns to one interception and an opponent passer rating of 72.9 when sending six or more pass rushers. When sending five or more pass-rushers, the Giants have five interceptions, and they’ve allowed three touchdowns.
Now, two of those five picks came against the New England Patriots in Week 12, when Mac Jones threw a cross-body pick that Bailey Zappe later replicated, and a disasterbacle of a Jones throw to linebacker Bobby Okereke. Another was a Sam Howell WTF throw in Week 11 in the fourth quarter against the Washington Commanders. So, this is another case, as always, where you have to watch the interceptions.
Still, it will be fascinating to see how Love deals with the Giants’ aggressive tendencies, because he’s not only playing well against extra rushers; he’s doing it against all kinds of pressure concepts.
“With this defense, you never know when they’re going to bring it,” Love said post-game of Steve Spagnuolo’s Chiefs squad. “They do a really good job disguising their stuff, so you kind of always have to be alert for it, try to pick up on the little tells, little keys. On that one to Christian they did end up bringing it, we got to a protection that picked it up, was able to give me enough time to kind of buy some time and let Christian work. I put it up for him and he went up there and made a great play.”
Love was talking about his second touchdown pass of the game to receiver Christian Watson, which came with 5:38 left in the third quarter from the Kansas City 12-yard line. The Chiefs brought a seven-man pressure look with six rushers and linebacker Willie Gay Jr. dropping into coverage in a Cover-0 blitz look. Love had pressure from end George Karlaftis from his front side, so he had to abbreviate it throwing motion, and he still made a great throw to Watson over the head of cornerback Joshua Williams.
Love on the blitz overall:
“I think me personally, it’s just being able to see the stuff. I’ve got more reps, I’m more comfortable, understanding where I need to go with the ball. I think the O-line is doing a great job just being able to pick this stuff up. It’s not easy when they’re bringing all-outs, some of these blitzes, things like that, but they’ve been doing a great job giving me time and then receivers obviously, they’re having awareness of when they need to be open and how long I’ve got and then just going out there and making plays. It’s definitely something we as a team practice. We know some teams are going to bring it and we’ve got to be able to execute and go out there and make sure they don’t do it again.”
Love’s 27-yard throw to receiver Dontayvion Wicks with 13:41 left in the first half was another example of how he dissects those extra rushers. Pre-snap, the Chiefs had a four-man front with linebackers Willie Gay and Jack Cochrane showing off-ball pressure looks. Cochrane dropped and Gay blitzed, which made it four-on-four to Love’s front side. The Packers picked it up well, left tackle Rasheed Walker kept George Karlaftis at bay, and Love hit Wicks on a deep over route against Cover-3.
“There’s a lot,” Love concluded, when asked how he’s grown as a quarterback in the last two seasons. “Two years ago, we weren’t able to pick up the blitz and execute, myself included. I wasn’t playing great. I wasn’t able to capitalize on those moments and now I think we are. I think just from an execution standpoint we played a lot better tonight. We were able to put up a lot of points, which is great, which is something we weren’t able to do the last game. But overall, it was a great win.”
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys got deeper into Love’s success against the blitz of late, and how it’s turned the Packers’ offense around.
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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:
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