A tale of two seasons

[KYPack]

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.

[Joemailman]

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.

[Fritz]

The big question:

Can they repeat that second half again?

[bobblehead]

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.

[run pMc]

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.

[KYPack]

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.

[red]

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

[Patler]

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.

[MadtownPacker]

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.

[MadtownPacker]

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.

[Fritz]

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.

[bobblehead]

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.

[Joemailman]

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.

[Fritz]

We better get Skin crackin' once training camp starts.

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

[George Cumby]

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.