The Green Bay Packers pass protection is a problem but quarterback Jordan Love’s performance under pressure is not

GREEN BAY – Two years ago, in the first start of his young career, Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love was the target of relentless blitzing from the Kansas City Chiefs and there wasn’t much he could do about it.
The coaches hadn’t prepared for that kind of onslaught and Love was a sitting duck. The Chiefs either sacked, hit or pressured him on 14 of the 39 times he dropped back to pass in a 13-7 loss in Kansas City.
How much that prepared him for what happened in a 34-20 loss to the Detroit Lions is up for debate because the pressure he felt Thursday night came under completely different circumstances.
But what is clear is that Love didn’t panic then and made enough good throws with pass rushers in his face Thursday night to think that he isn’t going to fall to pieces if someone else brings the heat the way the Lions did.
“I was proud of his effort in terms of, he showed no flinch,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “And that's something that you can't coach. I thought he made some unbelievable throws. Like that fourth down where he hit Rome (Romeo Doubs), across the middle. (Aidan) Hutchinson was right in his grill.
“And he delivered the football accurately. There were numerous instances like that.”
LaFleur pointed to a third-and-3 in the first quarter where Doubs broke free in the middle of the field and had a chance to break free for what could have been a 72-yard touchdown.
Just as Love was setting up in the pocket, defensive tackle Alim McNeil blasted past right guard Jon Runyan and got a hand up in the quarterback’s face. He adjusted his arm slot so the ball wasn’t knocked down at the line of scrimmage, but it sailed just over Doubs’ head.
“He tried to hit Rome and we’ve just got to do a better job of getting on the same page with that route,” LaFleur said. “But I thought it was going to be a great ball. I was really proud of just how he stood in the pocket. Because that's not easy to do.”
The scene happened repeatedly.
Love completed 23 of 36 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions. In the first half, when the Lions were running roughshod over the Packers’ offensive line, he completed 6 of 13 passes for 50 yards with an interception. He was sacked four times and knocked down three other times.
Despite the Lions rushing more than four on just three of Love’s 41 dropbacks, they either sacked, hit or pressured him 19 times during the entire game, five more than the Chiefs did with their relentless blitz. Every single series, it seemed Love was under pressure and in the first half he didn’t handle it as well as he did in the second.
It wasn’t that he panicked. In fact, it was the opposite. He held onto the ball too long looking for a big play that might rock the Lions defense.
“Were there times when he was maybe a little bit too picky, and (and he needed to) just take the profit?” LaFleur said. "Yeah. I think that’s going to be part of the learning curve, just understanding that, especially when you’re going up against a pretty good opponent with a really good pass rush. If there’s a window there to throw the ball, hey, ‘I gotta get the ball out of my hand.’ And as the game goes, you can kind of get a feel for how you need to play.
“But I think just the foundation of effective quarterback play all starts with reading with your feet and if it’s open, you can’t be picky. You can’t pass up a completion for another completion. And I’m not saying that happened all the time.”
The issue with the pressure was it came from all directions. It wasn’t like Love could anticipate it coming from one side and slide the protection that way. In a lot of cases, LaFleur had maximum protection set up only for it to break down under the Lions’ relentless pass rush.
No one was immune from allowing pressure.
Left tackle Rasheed Walker allowed two sacks and two pressures. Left guard Royce Newman allowed a half-sack, three pressures and a quarterback hit. Center Josh Myers allowed a half-sack and a pressure. Runyan allowed a sack and five pressures. Right tackle Zach Tom allowed a quarterback hit and three pressures.
“There was a bunch of four-man rush and they were getting home,” LaFleur said. “They did a nice job moving Hutchinson around and they did some nice jobs with some of their line stunts. And so, we’ve got to do a better job up front, no doubt about it. And just with just little techniques, because there were some times where we had some play actions, where we had a true gap protection.
“So, you’re just basically trying to build a wall with your offensive line and we’ve got some guys that are over-setting and it’s leaving creases, and on plays where you max-protect, you’re assuming that you’re going to have an opportunity to at least check down if the deeper developing concept isn’t there. And that wasn’t the case.”
LaFleur can make some changes on the offensive line to account for some of the protection lapses or hope that future opponents won’t be able to pressure the way the Lions did. Up until Thursday night, the pass protection had been good, and Love was able to operate mostly without pressure in his face.
But knowing he won’t have left tackle David Bakhtiari back from knee surgery anytime soon and might not have left guard Elgton Jenkins back from an MCL tear until after the bye, he’s going to have to figure out how to keep Love protected better against the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 9.
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Despite the protection debacle against the Lions, LaFleur does know based on that game and the Chiefs game that he has a quarterback who won’t crawl into a shell when he’s pressured. He showed in the second half that he could still get the Packers back into the game after getting knocked around most of the first half.
“I was really proud of just how he stood in the pocket,” LaFleur said. “Because that’s not easy to do. That’s the most he’s been pressured. That’s the most he’s been sacked. That’s the most he’s been hit. And you got to give him credit, because he stood in there and was still competing his butt off till the end of the game.”