GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jordan Love threw for a career-high 389 yards and four touchdowns on Sunday in a 31-29 loss to the Vikings, but he also tied a career-worst with three interceptions.
In his first game back from a two-week absence due to a knee injury suffered in Week 1, the Packers franchise quarterback flashed why the organization feels he is exactly that but still left plenty to be desired as the Packers fell into a 28-0 first-half deficit.
“Just wasn’t playing well enough,” Love said of himself. “I think ball placement was a little all over the place today, kinda throughout the whole game, and I think it picked up later … I think early on, just missed a couple throws and was a little bit off and you know, made it hard on some of the receivers on some of those plays.”
Among Love’s miscues were a couple of low throws on short-to-intermediate routes. For example, he threw a swing pass low of wide receiver Jayden Reed that fell incomplete when Reed should’ve been able to catch it in stride and turn upfield. He forced wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks to attempt a diving catch near the left sideline — Packers coaches will still grade it as a drop — when it should’ve been an easy pitch-and-catch. He didn’t see Wicks wide open on a hole shot down the right sideline and instead threw to Wicks later in the play, only for the second-year receiver to drop a more difficult catch near the goal line on fourth-and-8 from the Vikings’ 32-yard line.
.@k_grugierhill gets his hands on the INT!
📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/iJVu45ANrt
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 29, 2024
Two of Love’s interceptions were primarily his fault, the first coming when linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill fooled the quarterback into not seeing him by falling off a through route in Tampa 2 and picking off a tight-window throw for wide receiver Christian Watson over the middle (Watson suffered what he told head coach Matt LaFleur was a sprained his ankle on the play late in the first quarter and didn’t return). Then with the Packers mounting a comeback and trailing by nine midway through the fourth quarter, Love aired one out for Wicks into the end zone to avoid safety Harrison Smith running scot-free at him off the right edge. However, Wicks wasn’t expecting Love’s first-down heave that early into his go route and didn’t see the ball in time to prevent cornerback Byron Murphy from picking it off.
Wicks caught five passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns, but he was also targeted 13 times and showed frustration by slamming his hand on the grass after dropping a third-down pass thrown slightly behind him, the first of Wicks’ three drops on the afternoon.
“A lot of it was just me,” Love said. “I was making it really hard on him for a lot of those catches.”
Jordan Love takes blame for the slow start and says his accuracy wasn’t good enough. Said his knee feels fine coming out of his first game back. pic.twitter.com/KiAHJXEFPl
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) September 29, 2024
Love had a handful of plays that reminded everyone why the Packers are paying him $55 million annually, like his fade to wide receiver Jayden Reed for a 15-yard touchdown at the end of the first half and his on-the-run completion to wide receiver Bo Melton down the right sideline for 28 yards to set up the Packers’ second touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Those moments were fleeting on Sunday, but perfection probably wasn’t the expectation for a player who implied his knee still isn’t fully healthy.
“I hope it’ll continue to heal and get better, but at this moment, yeah, it’s definitely something that’s there and it’s one of those things,” Love said. “It’s football. We play a physical sport and there’s injuries and you gotta fight through some stuff.”
LaFleur said the team planned to run more pistol instead of putting Love under center to take stress off his knee while adding the Packers didn’t plan to throw 54 times (they obviously were forced to after falling behind by so much, so early). It was on a run, however, that Love took the most significant hit to his knee when he scrambled for 6 yards on third-and-6 late in the second quarter and came up limping but stayed in. Love said postgame that he was in pain after the hit but that there’s “nothing really there” in terms of reinjury significance.
With how much anguish Love was in when he first suffered the injury late in the fourth quarter against the Eagles in Brazil, it was a feat to even play less than a month later.
“I seen what he had to go through just to get back rehab-wise and I don’t even know the half because, outside this building, he’s turning the tables trying to make sure, flipping every rock he could do to get back,” defensive end Rashan Gary said. “But having a guy like that, a leader that’s very passionate and knows that we’re a better team when he’s on the field … fight back through his rehab and still going through his rehab, it’s a good thing and he’s only going to get better.”
“I’m absolutely embarrassed that I got an unsportsmanlike.”
Matt LaFleur’s opening statement: pic.twitter.com/stUOa86TDS
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) September 29, 2024
LaFleur noted how the Vikings presented the Packers with crowded looks at the line of scrimmage before bailing out right after the snap, complicating things for Love and the offense both before and after the snap. He lamented the Packers not finding enough completions against the Vikings’ soft zone coverage in the first half but lauded Love’s comfort level as the game progressed and his ability to generate explosives against Minnesota’s two-shell defense.
Though Sunday wasn’t Love’s best day, there was enough to build on before the flight to Los Angeles on Saturday with a chance to climb back above .500 against the Rams.
“You can tell he commands the huddle in a certain type of way. You never feel like you’re out the game with him,” running back Josh Jacobs said of Love. “You always feel like he’s one throw away from a big play, one special play away from a big play. I think that’s one of the biggest things that excites me most is you got guys in this room who are willing to put it all out on the line. We gotta fix a lot of things that we did, but I think we’ll be alright.”
Love said he likes where the Packers stand despite the loss because of the playmakers and team they have. He knows the Packers can dig out of a hole because they did it last season in making the Divisional Round after starting 2-5 and 3-6, but this team isn’t playing with the same amount of house money. Expectations are high because of who returned and the talent added to a squad that surprised plenty late last season. The same sluggish first half would be met with much more consternation both inside and outside the walls of 1265 Lombardi Ave.
Love and the Packers need to be much better than they were on Sunday against the Vikings, especially to start, because it won’t matter how good he feels about who is inside that locker room if the results don’t match.
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(Photo: Mark Hoffman / Imagn Images)
