The Green Bay Packers are in one of the best positions they could have hoped for when they traded Aaron Rodgers away to the New York Jets and committed their future to the right arm of Jordan Love. Even though they are currently under .500 with a record of 5-6, they control their own destiny when it comes to making the NFL Playoffs.
Going into play in Week 13, the Packers are just a half game out of the seventh and final NFC playoff spot. If they beat the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night, they will overtake the Seattle Seahawks for that spot. Seattle lost to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.
Of course, the Packers are in this position due to the improved play of Love and his young pass-catchers. As Love has gotten better, so have receivers Christian Watson, Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks.
But how have the young Packers players been able to pull it together over the last few weeks? In Love’s opinion, the answer is very simple, and is something that the Packers’ front office and coaching staff have been preaching all season.
If you are not a regular listener of Gilbert Brown’s “Go Dads Go” podcast, you are missing out on some really insightful football knowledge. Over the course of the season, the Gravedigger has said many times, “There is no substitute, no experience like actually playing in a football game.”
When the Packers were struggling, many wondered why Love looked as incomplete of a quarterback as he did because he sat behind Rodgers for three years. Shouldn’t he be more ready?
Brown, a Packers Hall of Famer, contends that nothing other than actually playing regular season football could have prepared Love for being the starter. That is the nature of the NFL.
This idea, too, is something that Matt LaFleur and Brian Gutekunst have mentioned numerous times throughout the season. They have preached that Love and the offense will improve with the more snaps they play together on Sundays.
And it appears that is what Love attributes his improvement to, as well, via the AP.
“I feel like it’s just comfort, being comfortable in the pocket,” Love said Wednesday regarding his improvement. “Obviously getting more reps, more reps, being comfortable with my reads, understanding what the defense is doing, where I need to go with the ball and just growing and learning (from) every rep I get and obviously learning from mistakes, learning from the good plays.”
The key, then, is to play more. Chemistry takes time to build, and Love and his receivers are still working on building it. While they have looked much better in recent weeks, they are far from a well-oiled machine. But they will get there eventually, and the glimpses of how good this offense will be when it happens show how exciting it will be.
For this week, though, Love is going to look to make up for his woeful first career start, a 13-7 loss in Kansas City back in 2021.
He is a different, more polished quarterback now.
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