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Thread: A tale of two seasons

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    Fried Rat HOFer KYPack's Avatar
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    A tale of two seasons

    Jordan Love is headed into his fifth season with the Packers. But if you look at last year, it was almost 2 separate seasons in 1.

    First 9 games, Love was so-so. 14 TD’s, 10 picks and a QB rating of 80.5. The first half results were less than so-so - 3 wins, 6 losses including a 4 game losing streak. This first half concluded a disappointing loss to the Steelers in which Love ended our game winning drive by throwing a game ending pick. When Love ran off the field in Pittsburgh I noticed a really determined look on his face. What did he do? He got down to work with MLF, Clements, Conner Lewis and the rest of the staff to correct his deficiencies. He showed grit, focus and a work ethic and got it going. In his film work, he concentrated in improving his reads and then trusting his adjustments.

    The results ? MVP- like. Games 10-18 were a total turnaround for the first year’s starting QB - 18 TD’s, ONE interception, 268.8 Passing YPG and a passer rating of 112.7. A strong case could be made that Love was the best QB in NFL last year. It was an awakening and a re-birth for a good young player that is developing his skills. I fully believe that we get the second half of the season Jordan Love right from the jump next year. I can’t wait for next season already. Last was like two seasons in one and we wound up with one of the top QB’s in the league at the end of it.

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    Postal Rat HOFer Joemailman's Avatar
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    The tale of 2 seasons didn't just apply to Love either. The youngest receiver corps we've seen started to figure some things out too. There were some throws by Love in the 1st half of the season that looked inaccurate that I thought were actually Love and the receiver not quite on the same page. It was dynamite when it all came together starting in November.
    Ring the bells that still can ring
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    Neo Rat HOFer Fritz's Avatar
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    The big question:

    Can they repeat that second half again?
    "The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."

    KYPack

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    Indenial Rat HOFer bobblehead's Avatar
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    So the post implies he WASN'T working as hard the first 8 weeks. What gives? Some of the post sounds like revisionist history. Or a story of how things looked. I'm not convinced he "buckled down" or any of that stuff. I am convinced everyone around him started playing better and the overall product improved immensely. No doubt Love played better as well, but I don't think it was all him.

    I honestly hope they don't extend him til next offseason. Tag him or whatever, but I want to see him do it again.
    I don't hold Grudges. It's counterproductive.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by bobblehead View Post
    So the post implies he WASN'T working as hard the first 8 weeks. What gives? Some of the post sounds like revisionist history. Or a story of how things looked. I'm not convinced he "buckled down" or any of that stuff. I am convinced everyone around him started playing better and the overall product improved immensely. No doubt Love played better as well, but I don't think it was all him.

    I honestly hope they don't extend him til next offseason. Tag him or whatever, but I want to see him do it again.
    I think Love got better as the year went on AND the receivers did too. I don't think they worked harder or anything, it was a continuous process and eventually they got better individually and grew together with some chemistry (i.e., collectively).

    Love will get an extension probably in June when the rest of the Devondre stuff clears, the way Gute was talking they feel confident they got their guy.

    I'm pretty confident they do too, but I would also like to see a little more proof that it wasn't some kind of "Nick Foles SB run for Philly" hot streak. I'd also like to see how he responds now that teams have film and an offseason to pick apart his game for weaknesses. He's clearly got talent and is still very young, so there's upside.

    Locking him in now will be cheaper than waiting until next offseason, when he will be chased both by GB and other teams. The contracts for QBs just keep climbing, if he's the guy GB needs to lock him in now.

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    Fried Rat HOFer KYPack's Avatar
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    Oh yeah, the improvement was a team effort. The change in Love's off field work and study is not to infer that he wasn't working before. The idea is focus. Love and Clements looked at some areas that had been problems in the games to that point. They focused on platform, arm angle, footwork and most importantly reading opposing D's. They did work on those points. I heard that in several interviews that Love has given. The most important thing they worked on was Love learned to trust his reads and make the adjustments. The Packers were the most blitzed team in the league. Love's work meant the team was spot on in their hot and blitz control routes. The WR room, the TE's, the return of Aaron Jones were all additional factors in the Pack's 2nd half improvement.

    But the "revisionist history" comment you can shove up your glowakus. Those are Love's stats from the first and second halves of the season. From a shaky start, the GB offense stepped up in the first tier of NFL offenses in the second half. On that point we can all agree.

  7. #7
    the change also happened when lefleur told love to stop over thinking and being too cautious, and just let the ball fly

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    Fact Rat HOFer Patler's Avatar
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    KYP; I agree with much of what you've written. The stats are what they are, a big change from the first half to the second half for Love. However: (here comes the "BUT... )

    Four or five games into the season, not have watched the games in any great detail, I started to become concerned about Love. After the euphoria of his excellent season opener against the Bears, I began to question if he would be "the guy" or just a very talented athlete who never quite harnessed his ability in a way to maximize his success. So, I watched the games again, and looked for commentary and film review from people I thought were being honest and objective. I dismissed those appearing to be dramatic or too biased to hold much weight. I even kept some notes, because I had received messages from several 'Rats asking what my opinion was about Love.

    I even started what was to be a lengthy summary of my conclusions, that he was playing much better than his stats, and that he was a victim of his inexperienced receivers. The gist was to be, "Now we can all see why Rodgers basically ignored receivers who had not yet earned his trust." Love didn't have that option. About the time I started to compile my notes, the season started to turn around so I never completed the post. A few of the plays I recall (comments from the experts, not me):

    - Musgrave coming out of his break at a very wrong angle based on the coverage, and Love having thrown exactly where Musgrave should have been but wasn't.
    - Musgrave taking an extra step before his break and surprisingly not falling but throwing of the timing and his position on the field.
    - Musgrave misreading coverage and running the wrong route.
    - Watson's horrible effort on a contested ball that was intercepted. LeFleur sounded absolutely disappointed saying it wasn't a bad throw and a ball like that should never be intercepted.
    - Three receivers ending up within a few yards of each other on a relatively deep throw, two obviously running wrong routes.
    - Love making a correct read when the safety goes to one receiver and Love throwing deep to the opposite side. Only problem was the first receiver ran a wrong route and actually brought the safety over to the area Love threw to and the safety making a real good play for the interception. Comment was that Love had to shocked to see the safety and first receiver there after he threw the ball. They should have been no where close to the second receiver who had beaten his coverage.
    - and on and on.

    I think Love started out fine, but after a number of games began to hesitate. He clearly was not as decisive as he had seemed the first couple games. Being inexperienced himself he probably began questioning himself, probably hesitating to see for sure what was happening with his receivers, which never turns out well. A lot of throws were just a bit late, which often makes them look like worse decisions than they were. Good decision, but late execution. I think the midseason change was not so much a change as it was more restoring Loves confidence in his own decision making, and the receivers all maturing quite rapidly to be there with him.

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    El Jardinero Rat HOFer MadtownPacker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by red View Post
    the change also happened when lefleur told love to stop over thinking and being too cautious, and just let the ball fly
    That was exactly it and in several of Love’s interviews he has stated as much. He said Pepe called him in and said not to be worrying and just let it fly. Have to wonder how much was the fear of throwing INTs because the Texies of the world pointing out Saint Aaron’s low ratio. From what was said Love pretty much starting playing HIS game.

    I like his style of play! Pay him now just don’t make it long.

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    El Jardinero Rat HOFer MadtownPacker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patler View Post
    Four or five games into the season, not have watched the games in any great detail, I started to become concerned about Love. After the euphoria of his excellent season opener against the Bears, I began to question if he would be "the guy" or just a very talented athlete who never quite harnessed his ability in a way to maximize his success
    Yeah my faith was also feeling a little rocked about the time of the raiders loss. Very aware what a shoddy organization they are so that loss was super bad and part of the season’s longest losing streak. Then he came up with some big games and excluding the NYG game played pretty good consistently.

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    Neo Rat HOFer Fritz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patler View Post
    KYP; I agree with much of what you've written. The stats are what they are, a big change from the first half to the second half for Love. However: (here comes the "BUT... )

    Four or five games into the season, not have watched the games in any great detail, I started to become concerned about Love. After the euphoria of his excellent season opener against the Bears, I began to question if he would be "the guy" or just a very talented athlete who never quite harnessed his ability in a way to maximize his success. So, I watched the games again, and looked for commentary and film review from people I thought were being honest and objective. I dismissed those appearing to be dramatic or too biased to hold much weight. I even kept some notes, because I had received messages from several 'Rats asking what my opinion was about Love.

    I even started what was to be a lengthy summary of my conclusions, that he was playing much better than his stats, and that he was a victim of his inexperienced receivers. The gist was to be, "Now we can all see why Rodgers basically ignored receivers who had not yet earned his trust." Love didn't have that option. About the time I started to compile my notes, the season started to turn around so I never completed the post. A few of the plays I recall (comments from the experts, not me):

    - Musgrave coming out of his break at a very wrong angle based on the coverage, and Love having thrown exactly where Musgrave should have been but wasn't.
    - Musgrave taking an extra step before his break and surprisingly not falling but throwing of the timing and his position on the field.
    - Musgrave misreading coverage and running the wrong route.
    - Watson's horrible effort on a contested ball that was intercepted. LeFleur sounded absolutely disappointed saying it wasn't a bad throw and a ball like that should never be intercepted.
    - Three receivers ending up within a few yards of each other on a relatively deep throw, two obviously running wrong routes.
    - Love making a correct read when the safety goes to one receiver and Love throwing deep to the opposite side. Only problem was the first receiver ran a wrong route and actually brought the safety over to the area Love threw to and the safety making a real good play for the interception. Comment was that Love had to shocked to see the safety and first receiver there after he threw the ball. They should have been no where close to the second receiver who had beaten his coverage.
    - and on and on.

    I think Love started out fine, but after a number of games began to hesitate. He clearly was not as decisive as he had seemed the first couple games. Being inexperienced himself he probably began questioning himself, probably hesitating to see for sure what was happening with his receivers, which never turns out well. A lot of throws were just a bit late, which often makes them look like worse decisions than they were. Good decision, but late execution. I think the midseason change was not so much a change as it was more restoring Loves confidence in his own decision making, and the receivers all maturing quite rapidly to be there with him.

    That last line would seem to be key. If Love was looking bad because the receivers were running routes like the Three Stooges, you can imagine that he'd become hesitant. Once hesitant, he needed The Flower to tell him to let it fly. And the receivers started playing better, so in combination with Love letting go, it came together in the second half.

    I don't know why his crazy-ass footwork bugs me so badly, but it does. I wish he'd work on planting and setting and driving off his back foot and all of that. But that might be an old baby boomer fan not understanding the way these durn kids do things these days.
    "The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."

    KYPack

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    Indenial Rat HOFer bobblehead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KYPack View Post
    Oh yeah, the improvement was a team effort. The change in Love's off field work and study is not to infer that he wasn't working before. The idea is focus. Love and Clements looked at some areas that had been problems in the games to that point. They focused on platform, arm angle, footwork and most importantly reading opposing D's. They did work on those points. I heard that in several interviews that Love has given. The most important thing they worked on was Love learned to trust his reads and make the adjustments. The Packers were the most blitzed team in the league. Love's work meant the team was spot on in their hot and blitz control routes. The WR room, the TE's, the return of Aaron Jones were all additional factors in the Pack's 2nd half improvement.

    But the "revisionist history" comment you can shove up your glowakus. Those are Love's stats from the first and second halves of the season. From a shaky start, the GB offense stepped up in the first tier of NFL offenses in the second half. On that point we can all agree.
    Didn't quite mean it to sound offensive KY, I save that for certain posters. I say revisionist when what I really mean is a theory applied as an answer to a strawman question. I agree that he continued to work and improve throughout the season and clearly as a first year starter things would need to be polished.

    My main point is that it wasn't as clearly defined as 2 seasons where Love completely had the light turn on. It was as Run said after me, a continuous process and basically what you would hope would happen with a young team. I used the term symbiotic many times early on and it happened beyond my wildest dreams. As guys got used to each other it SEEMED like Love and others made a huge jump. The truth is they all made a small jump and the sum was much bigger than the parts. I still have a deep seeded fear that Love will regress and suddenly skinbasket will find time out of his busy schedule to crow that he was right all along, when in reality he was over reacting, just like some of us might be over reacting to a hot streak to end the season.
    I don't hold Grudges. It's counterproductive.

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    Postal Rat HOFer Joemailman's Avatar
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    I'm pretty sure Love is a lurker here at Packerrats. He started reading that thread that Skinbasket started and got pissed off. Best thing that could have happened to the Packers.
    Ring the bells that still can ring
    Forget your perfect offering
    There is a crack, a crack in everything
    That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen

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    Neo Rat HOFer Fritz's Avatar
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    We better get Skin crackin' once training camp starts.

    it's a competition! Sean Clifford might be the better QB!
    "The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."

    KYPack

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Fritz View Post
    We better get Skin crackin' once training camp starts.

    it's a competition! Sean Clifford might be the better QB!
    Lol.

    Something I remember from the end of the season was the bulk of his picks were passes intended to Glass Cannon Watson. You remove those from his stat line and his numbers are even more impressive.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Joemailman View Post
    The tale of 2 seasons didn't just apply to Love either. The youngest receiver corps we've seen started to figure some things out too. There were some throws by Love in the 1st half of the season that looked inaccurate that I thought were actually Love and the receiver not quite on the same page. It was dynamite when it all came together starting in November.
    I think there was an enormous factor at work this past season that nobody is talking about, and I don't know if anyone is even seing it - the Vrable Factor.

    The idea that all 4-6 young receivers just suddenly looked like 2 year veterans, in the span of a few weeks mid-season, completely on their own (as well as the first year quarterback, who suddenly started finding the receivers he'd been missing on their routes for the first ~2 months) just doesn't seem plausible to me. I think it's far more likely that there was someone behind this - that someone coordinated this, someone coordinated this growth, coached all these players up and taught them how to take these giant steps in their development.

    Like for example, the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator; Jason Vrable. The guy whose specific job description is to do exactly that - teach each of the wide receivers on an individual basis the basic tools and techniques to do ther jobs at the NFL level, and teach those receivers and the quarterback how to coordinate with one another in the larger context of the team's passing game.

    My gut feeling is that it's very unlikely this all happened just happened by accident, or that all these players who had only 4 of 5 game's worth of live NFL experience just suddenly saw the light all by themselves in the same 2-3 week period. There is a man on our coaching staff who is being paid to do this, who works closely every day as part of a 2-man team with quarterbacks coach Tom Clements, and I think it's far more likely that those 2 men just.... did their jobs. I really don't know why this isn't being talked about more.

    And if you look at the comments from the players over the course of the season, you'll see a consistent theme of remarks that support this. The receivers frequently credited Vrable with teaching them how to support one another, work as a team, and read their responsibilities in any given situation. They said he had very high expectations of them, and never gave them slack because they were rookies - said he told them he expected as much of them as he would expect from veterans, but did understand that because they were inexperienced, they needed to be taught differently. Lafleur also has spoken very higly of Vrable and his methods and his hard work whenever the subject comes up.

    I think we all owe a lot more to Vrable than we realize, and probably to Clements as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what this passing game looks like next year, with the addition of Sean Mannion to the 2-man team of Clements and Vrable. I know Lafleur's crazy about Mannion, and has big plans for him.

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    Indenial Rat HOFer bobblehead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by George Cumby View Post
    Lol.

    Something I remember from the end of the season was the bulk of his picks were passes intended to Glass Cannon Watson. You remove those from his stat line and his numbers are even more impressive.
    The bulk of his picks were late in games we were trailing....which is kind of what you would expect from your QB. If he was targeting Watson more that could be construed in several ways.
    I don't hold Grudges. It's counterproductive.

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    Indenial Rat HOFer bobblehead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen Tundra View Post
    I think there was an enormous factor at work this past season that nobody is talking about, and I don't know if anyone is even seing it - the Vrable Factor.

    The idea that all 4-6 young receivers just suddenly looked like 2 year veterans, in the span of a few weeks mid-season, completely on their own (as well as the first year quarterback, who suddenly started finding the receivers he'd been missing on their routes for the first ~2 months) just doesn't seem plausible to me. I think it's far more likely that there was someone behind this - that someone coordinated this, someone coordinated this growth, coached all these players up and taught them how to take these giant steps in their development.

    Like for example, the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator; Jason Vrable. The guy whose specific job description is to do exactly that - teach each of the wide receivers on an individual basis the basic tools and techniques to do ther jobs at the NFL level, and teach those receivers and the quarterback how to coordinate with one another in the larger context of the team's passing game.

    My gut feeling is that it's very unlikely this all happened just happened by accident, or that all these players who had only 4 of 5 game's worth of live NFL experience just suddenly saw the light all by themselves in the same 2-3 week period. There is a man on our coaching staff who is being paid to do this, who works closely every day as part of a 2-man team with quarterbacks coach Tom Clements, and I think it's far more likely that those 2 men just.... did their jobs. I really don't know why this isn't being talked about more.

    And if you look at the comments from the players over the course of the season, you'll see a consistent theme of remarks that support this. The receivers frequently credited Vrable with teaching them how to support one another, work as a team, and read their responsibilities in any given situation. They said he had very high expectations of them, and never gave them slack because they were rookies - said he told them he expected as much of them as he would expect from veterans, but did understand that because they were inexperienced, they needed to be taught differently. Lafleur also has spoken very higly of Vrable and his methods and his hard work whenever the subject comes up.

    I think we all owe a lot more to Vrable than we realize, and probably to Clements as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what this passing game looks like next year, with the addition of Sean Mannion to the 2-man team of Clements and Vrable. I know Lafleur's crazy about Mannion, and has big plans for him.
    Not to be too snippy but...duh. That's his job. I don't think anyone ever claimed they figured it all out themselves. The coaching staff deserves a lot of credit, but having very young guys improve as they go is expected, not shocking. Guys got healthy, guys started understanding their role a little better, etc. I said it many times, it only takes a small across the board improvement to make the end product look dramatically different. You can't point to ONE thing/guy. The OL stabilized, the WRs started figuring out the little things, Love gained confidence he could stand there for .7 seconds longer and the WR would be where he belonged...oh and Jones got healthy and kept the chains in the right place. Which ONE thing was the difference, Walkers improvement, Jones getting healthy, Wicks getting healthy, Krafts improvement, Reeds improvement or Love gaining confidence. The answer is yes.
    I don't hold Grudges. It's counterproductive.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by bobblehead View Post
    Not to be too snippy but...duh. That's his job. I don't think anyone ever claimed they figured it all out themselves.
    Uh-huh. When's the last time you a WR coach/passing game coordinator do anywhere near that kind of a job in 2 1/2 months' time, with 2nd year WRs, 4 rookies (one an UDFA), and a first year starting quarterback? I'm not coming up with much there.

    The man didn't just do "a" job, he did an exceptional job, and I think he deserves some credit - even from this board. You watched the games; you can't have missed the number of times these kids made veteran plays to drag the back foot inbounds, secure the ball before crossing the goal line, and countless other smart, heads-up plays. You can't have forgotten how half the league was talking about how smart and professional this entire position group became halfway through the season, how improved their route-running was across the board, and I don't buy that the O-line helped them make those specific plays and run those routes. I don't think Jones or Love had any impact on their route-running, their situational awareness, and their smart, heads-up play.

    Obviously, a lot of credit has to go to the kids too. These are smart, talented players; the WR scouts did an outstanding job. But with players that young - and not one veteran player in the entire corps - there's just no way the position coach/passing game coordinator didn't play a huge role in that turnaround. Those hundred little things that they suddenly started doing right didn't suddenly come to them in an ayahusca retreat; they were taught.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by red View Post
    the change also happened when lefleur told love to stop over thinking and being too cautious, and just let the ball fly
    I doubt LaFleur ever said anything that stupid. The best thing about Love is that he in fact does play like Rodgers in terms of not throwing interceptions.

    We certainly did hit it big on this bumper crop of good receivers, but I absolutely do think that it was more about Love making them better than vice versa.

    Yeah, Love was playing HIS game, but his game fortunately, is a LOT like Rodgers' game.

    Why did things get better the second half of the season? Hard to say. A bunch of factors mentioned by others as well as jitters overcome by experience and a dose of better luck. Whatever the cause, I fully expect the good things to continue into next season and long beyond.
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