Jordan Love is such a cool QB.
The Packers’ signal caller plays the game with such a brazen aggression that it makes watching him the coolest experience in the sport. He’s fourth in the NFL in Average Depth of Target at 10.1 per Sumer Sports, and it’s not just that he’s throwing these passes downfield a lot, he’s attacking these coverages that have confused QBs the right way.
We spent a large majority of the season talking about how to beat 2-high defenses, and the answer is still that you can gash them downfield. If you wad up the protection and have a QB with as much aggression as Love does, you can still attack these defenses. Among all QBs with at least 30 attempts against what Sports Information Solution calls two-high shells, Love is second in the NFL in Average Throw Depth against these defenses. His belief in his arm, combined with the aggressive nature of the passing offense, allows for them to remain explosive against these structures.
Let’s look at what he did against Arizona, peppering in some really high level throws that showcase his belief in his arm. The Packers are running Dagger out of a trips formation, with the outside receiver having to come all the way over on the dig. The Cardinals are in a two-high shell, but Love is set on getting this dig throw off. He holds this ball, waiting for the dig to clear completely through all the throwing windows before getting this ball off. Most QBs would’ve went for the checkdown or gone into scramble mode. Love is a pocket passer in the terms of when the ball is in his hands, he’s going to gash you downfield, no matter what.
These next couple of throws just show off the belief Love has in his arm, making these tight window throws that elevate the entire offense behind him. It’s fourth and nine, the Packers leave their offense on the field. Gotta have it for the first down, and they run an over followed by a backside dig. The Cardinals spin into Cover 3, and there’s nothing open. The intermediate part of the field is flooded and the outside route to the top is being swamped.
Love simply lofts a pass with the perfect amount of touch and velocity to put it over the linebacker’s outstretched arms and into the hands of Christian Watson. I mean, this is an incredible throw, one of the best I’ve seen a QB make this season given the down and distance. Watch how cool Love is in the pocket. He looks to his left, doesn’t like it, comes all the way back to his right before the pressure gets home and throws a strike. These tight window throws are what make him such a fun QB to watch from down to down.
This throw might be another one for the “best passes of the season category” and it shows how talented Love is, and how he also manages pressure situations. Love is rarely a scramble due to pressure guy—this season he’s only scrambled three times due to pressure, per SIS—but what Love does is trust in his arm to gash teams downfield against the blitz. Now, sometimes he’ll get burned for it, as his interception numbers are high this season, but that belief and idea of constantly being in attack mode is what makes watching him so cool, and separates himself from some of the other top QBs in the league. This touchdown to Romeo Doubs is just a sick throw, with the Cardinals bringing the house against him. It’s a Cover 0 blitz, meaning they’re just trying to send almost everyone and force this throw to be quick or inaccurate. What Love does under pressure is fascinating. He’ll sometimes drift, but because of how talented his arm is, he can place the ball exactly where it needs to be. Most signal callers aren’t even escaping this pressure, let alone keeping the ball inbounds. Yet, Love is just the perfect amount of crazy to make this throw and it pay off with a touchdown. What a player, man.
I know people will look at Love’s interception numbers and balk at the idea of Love being perfect for attacking 2 High shells. His interceptions have been bad to start the year, and some of them have just been unlucky. However, he’s trying to gash teams downfield with his arm, instead of throwing a bunch of RPOs and playing it safe. I think that’s the biggest difference between some QBs today versus the past. Yes, completion percentage numbers were down, but most of the QBs back then were taking these kinds of shots against these coverages, remaining aggressive against them. Love has a big challenge ahead with an equally aggressive Houston Texans defense, but I’m excited to see how he keeps his trickshot king crown on top of his head.
