Packers quarterback Jordan Love draws praise for his 'resiliency' after rugged first start

GREEN BAY – By the fourth quarter, Jordan Love could have been seeing ghosts. He’d been seeing Kansas City Chiefs pass rushers all afternoon, often picking himself up off the field, never comfortable. 

At times, Love resembled a boxer standing in the ring, absorbing hit after hit. The constant harassment was enough to rattle a quarterback making his first career start. Matt LaFleur watched his young quarterback trot out for the fourth quarter Sunday, curious what the kid was made of in a moment he’d never experienced before. 

That Love opened the fourth quarter red hot, saving his best football for when it mattered most, is what the Packers clung to for hope Monday after an otherwise dismal debut.  

“What he did, and the hits he took,” LaFleur said, “and for him not to panic and not to flinch, it can get frustrating when you go time and time again and you have no points to show for it. I didn’t feel him get down at all. The moment wasn’t too big for him. I thought he showed a great resiliency, and that’s stuff you can’t coach. 

“We can coach a lot of the other things. We can coach the footwork, we can coach the mechanics of the position, we can coach him on some of the protection issues.” 

The Packers will need to continue coaching all those quarterback fundamentals with Love. His 19-for-34 passing, 190 yards, one touchdown, one interception and 69.5 passer rating in Sunday’s long-anticipated debut showed a quarterback who still needs much growth before he’s ready to be a winning starter. 

LaFleur saw the deficiencies on film, particularly with Love’s erratic accuracy. He was optimistic, however, because of how Love played in the fourth quarter. Love opened the final 15 minutes with seven straight completions, impressing the Packers with his poise. 

“There were certainly some plays that were made,” LaFleur said, “where it’s exactly how it should look in terms of the rhythm, the timing, being able to progress.” 

LaFleur pointed directly to the first two plays of the fourth quarter. From his own end zone, Love planted his feet at the top of his drop and delivered a perfect pass to Davante Adams near the left sideline on a 14-yard out route. On the next snap, Love worked through his first, second and third progression, finally finding Marquez Valdes-Scantling for 16 yards in the middle of the field.  

Love also kept his poise from his end zone in the first half, finding running back AJ Dillon in the right flat for 21 yards to give the Packers' offense some breathing room. LaFleur said his quarterback made the wrong adjustment at the line of scrimmage, throwing against a Chiefs defense with two safeties instead of running. Safety Tyrann Mathieu started the play near the line of scrimmage, giving the Chiefs only one deep safety, but dropped before the snap without Love noticing in time to audible. 

Instead of panicking, Love stayed with the play and found something positive. 

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“I think that’s one of the most uncomfortable positions for a quarterback to be in,” LaFleur said, “is when you’re dropping back in the shadows of your own end zone. He did a great job. We had basically a run-pass can on when he hit AJ Dillon out of the end zone for an explosive gain where we really wanted the run versus the two-safety look, but they did a great job with their disguise. 

“The one thing we told him going into the game was, ‘You can’t worry about being perfect. There’s going to be times where they’re going to fool you,’ and they did a great job with their disguise on that one early on. We canned it, and he played the play out, and he got all the way to his check down, his third read in his progression.” 

LaFleur assigned himself blame Monday for not having a better pass-protection plan, particularly on third down, reiterating what he said immediately after the game. The Packers finished 2-for-12 on third down, failing to convert their first nine. 

While the Chiefs’ consistent pressure might also have had something to do with Love being slow to diagnose the defense in his first NFL start, there’s no question the youngster took a beating. LaFleur said the Packers’ offensive coaches, along with Love’s teammates, were all responsible for putting their quarterback in a better position. 

“I think there’s going to be probably some negativity that gets unfairly cast on him that falls on all of us,” LaFleur said. 

Love never did blink, however. LaFleur said he was impressed with his young quarterback’s willingness to stay in the pocket. Now the Packers need the rest of his game to catch up. 

“He’s a very even-keeled guy,” LaFleur said, “and that’s what you want. You want a guy who’s not going to get too high or too low and is just going to go out and play, and take it one play at a time. I just thought he showed just a great toughness just to stand in there, because a lot of quarterbacks, when you’re repeatedly getting hit, they’re looking to get out of the pocket. I didn’t feel that from him.”