Game 9: Packers @ Chiefs - Sunday, November 7th, 3:25PM

[jason21nl]

Love had loads of trouble against pressure. Certainly not the first young QB to have that issue.

 

Confused why they didn’t try to screen them more or more slants. It was very obvious they were coming. They weren’t trying to hide it.

[homer]

Love had loads of trouble against pressure. Certainly not the first young QB to have that issue.

 

Confused why they didn’t try to screen them more or more slants. It was very obvious they were coming. They weren’t trying to hide it.

 

Or just do rollouts/sprint outs. They did one time and it worked.

[SomewhereInTime]

I mean come on. This is akin to saying a starting pitcher that left the game in the 4th with a 6-6 tie gave his team a chance to win. They had a chance to win because the defense played their best game of the season. Any player who can hand the ball off to a RB can keep a team in the game if the defense isn't giving up points.

 

If the Chiefs are the normal Chiefs today the score is 31-7 and the narrative isn't "Jordan gave us a chance." He didn't play well. We all saw it.

 

I don't think Jordan Love was given the best chance to succeed with the lack of protection he got and generally poor 3rd down play calling. It would have helped immensely to have Bahktiari healthy as he could play LT, Jenkins could move to LG, and Runyan to RG, effectively upgrading three positions on the offensive line. Even with Rodgers healthy, this offense is not putting up great numbers so far this year and line health is a big reason for that.

[FVBrewerFan]

Love can make all the throws. They can simulate crowd noise. Show him looks in practice and on film. But when all that is happening for real, and that computer has to calculate the right decision instantly...well that's the difference between an even serviceable NFL QB and one who's not.

 

He's not there. I won't say yet, because he may never get there. Obviously there's a whole litany of QBs who looked this bad and fifured it out. To be fair though, most don't. I will say this. His body language doesn't exude confidence. Just a fan watching, may mean nothing, but when Favre was throwing half his passes to to the other team, he still had that swagger.

 

By the way, I missed the game. What's the deal with Crosby? Did he flat out miss again, or were either the result of a bad snap/hold?

[Joseph Zarr]

My word, I just watched that catastraphudge. My goodness.

 

(1) Love looked like a young inexperienced QB on the road in a hostile environment.

(2) THAT was your gameplan Petals? THAT?!? My word. How do you not commit to a run game HERE? How?

(3) Ummmmm, Interior OL play was wowza.

(4) Amari Rogers on ST is, um, something

(5) So, you want to swap Long Snappers mid-season...

(6) Mo Drayton seems like a really awesome Dude. But, holy heck, his units stink outside the Leg of Bojorquez.

(7) Speaking of Bojorquez, I notice he is a bit incapable of spinning laces out. That's 2 kicks in 2-3 weeks where he just puts the ball down clearly laces in. That's no bueno.

 

How disappointing to be facing an Inferior opponent and showing up with that gameplan and execution when your D (with even more key injuries) just stepped the F up. Ugh.

[Joseph Zarr]

 

By the way, I missed the game. What's the deal with Crosby? Did he flat out miss again, or were either the result of a bad snap/hold?

 

Bad everything. Snaps and holds and One was Blocked so protection as well. The FG Unit, as a whole, has been hanging by a thread since Cincy. It's uncanny. And, before Cincy, there were the near blocks at SF.

[PeaveyFury]

Yeah, the hold was definitely bad. Never even tried to get the laces right.

[PeaveyFury]

Lost in all the talk about Love’s performance, let’s all agree that we don’t want to see Amari Rodgers fielding punts like that ever again.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The aspect of how atrocious special teams played today isn't just about the missed FG and muffed punts - many of the Packers' offensive drives started from inside their own 10 due to a combination of poor punt fielding but also nonexistent punt blocking by the coverage units to even give the Packers offense a chance to not be backed up.

 

There were plenty of drives that stalled out after picking up 3-4 first downs that would've at least wound up in FG range if they were starting between the 20-30 yd line and not their own 5-10. Whether any FG's would've been made is up for a different discussion, unfortunately.

 

There are hardly ever in-season coaching staff changes unless the head coach gets canned...but my lord after today's performance I don't see how you can't think about bringing in an entirely new special teams staff - that unit is bad enough to actually cost the Packers a playoff game where both their offense and defense plays well enough to win.

[SomewhereInTime]

Yeah, the hold was definitely bad. Never even tried to get the laces right.

 

I know everyone loves the new super punter and he's done a great job but the packers don't punt often. It's about 3 a game. By cutting Scott they did cut a great holder and that is the majority of the snaps for a GB Punter.

[SomewhereInTime]

The aspect of how atrocious special teams played today isn't just about the missed FG and muffed punts - many of the Packers' offensive drives started from inside their own 10 due to a combination of poor punt fielding but also nonexistent punt blocking by the coverage units to even give the Packers offense a chance to not be backed up.

 

There were plenty of drives that stalled out after picking up 3-4 first downs that would've at least wound up in FG range if they were starting between the 20-30 yd line and not their own 5-10. Whether any FG's would've been made is up for a different discussion, unfortunately.

 

There are hardly ever in-season coaching staff changes unless the head coach gets canned...but my lord after today's performance I don't see how you can't think about bringing in an entirely new special teams staff - that unit is bad enough to actually cost the Packers a playoff game where both their offense and defense plays well enough to win.

 

To add to that. They twice didn't have enough players on the field and had to rush someone on last second (once on punt team and once on field goal defense). They also had a good punt that should've been downed inside the 5 yard line but let it bounce into the endzone for a touchback.

[RobDeer 45]

Here’s my take on Love after the game. I think there were throws that were obvious timing/miscommunication misses. That back shoulder to Adams was a great example. I thought back shoulder was the right throw, but Adams went deep. Either way, it’s a tough throw and something you perfect as you get more experience and time with the 1st team. Adams didn’t start practicing until Friday right? Love also had several throws that were just bad. One of which was on a role out and he tried to emulate Rodgers’ jump throw and just missed. Those are throws that need to be made, and maybe he can fix. My biggest concern, which goes back to the preseason, is when he’s in trouble, has pressure, or is trying to make something out of nothing, he throws the ball up for grabs. These are the throws he can not make! He had that one bad one rolling out and threw back to the middle of the field, should have been picked.

 

I guess my take after this game is he was definitely jittery early. He calmed down a bit as time went on. I’m more worried about his future to be a #1 qb, but I’m not making my final assessment on him after one start. Nervous, but not giving up.

[Underachiever]

Funny to me that the takeaway for many was Jordan Love's performance. No, he wasn't very good, but dude is staring at playing at GEHA (Arrowhead) in his first start. I would say that special teams, Newman, the line, and the OC had a worse game. They gave Love very little help.

 

When Bojorquez started punting well at GB, people wondered how Buffalo could have given up on him. Perhaps we see why now. He seems poor at holding. Competent special teams probably wins the game for GB. Crosby makes two FG instead of missing, Taylor's miscue doesn't gift them 3 points before halftime. now it's 10-6. Plus, when Love got GB down to the KC 24 in the fourth, perhaps the playcalling is different if a field goal is an option because they aren't down 13 points. Maybe Love doesn't throw the INT. I know, change one play, the butterfly effect, but my takeaway wasn't Love's poor play, it was a lot of other poor performances.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I've only seen the highlights. But it is a little odd to me given the situation that Dillon/Jones combined for 20 carries and averaged nearly 5 ypc. If there was a game to run them 50 times it sure seems like that was the one.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I've only seen the highlights. But it is a little odd to me given the situation that Dillon/Jones combined for 20 carries and averaged nearly 5 ypc. If there was a game to run them 50 times it sure seems like that was the one.

 

This is where scrambled gameplanning probably comes into play....that gets put together early on in the week and before wednesday - at the time coaches are assuming Rodgers is playing and all 3 top receivers are likely back on the field. I would hope they adjusted things a bit once they knew Love was playing, but in general it seemed like they could've done some things differently to make life easier - particularly with personnel groupings.

 

They would've been better of just carbon copying the Cardinal gameplan and running it alot more. Seemed like they played with a bunch of 3wr personnel, and KC just went blitz heavy with coverage rolled towards Adams and Love took way too long into the game to start looking to secondary options who were better places to go with the football.

[PeaveyFury]

Adams didn’t start practicing until Friday right?

 

Worth emphasizing. Timing would only have been better with two extra days...

[yourout]

Funny to me that the takeaway for many was Jordan Love's performance. No, he wasn't very good, but dude is staring at playing at GEHA (Arrowhead) in his first start. I would say that special teams, Newman, the line, and the OC had a worse game. They gave Love very little help.

 

When Bojorquez started punting well at GB, people wondered how Buffalo could have given up on him. Perhaps we see why now. He seems poor at holding. Competent special teams probably wins the game for GB. Crosby makes two FG instead of missing, Taylor's miscue doesn't gift them 3 points before halftime. now it's 10-6. Plus, when Love got GB down to the KC 24 in the fourth, perhaps the playcalling is different if a field goal is an option because they aren't down 13 points. Maybe Love doesn't throw the INT. I know, change one play, the butterfly effect, but my takeaway wasn't Love's poor play, it was a lot of other poor performances.

 

Maybe after ARod comes back they should see if Love could hold on FGs. I would think its pretty low injury risk and would allow having some tricks in the bag for fakes.

[homer]

I can see why someone would salivate seeing tape of Love. Easy throwing motion and the ball just pops out of his hand. I do wonder, though, if he will be able to find accuracy when he isn't able to set up and throw normally. I feel like in the modern NFL those guys probably get a chance to set and throw like that 15% of the time. The rest of the time they are on the move or throwing off their back foot.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Funny to me that the takeaway for many was Jordan Love's performance. No, he wasn't very good, but dude is staring at playing at GEHA (Arrowhead) in his first start. I would say that special teams, Newman, the line, and the OC had a worse game. They gave Love very little help.

 

When Bojorquez started punting well at GB, people wondered how Buffalo could have given up on him. Perhaps we see why now. He seems poor at holding. Competent special teams probably wins the game for GB. Crosby makes two FG instead of missing, Taylor's miscue doesn't gift them 3 points before halftime. now it's 10-6. Plus, when Love got GB down to the KC 24 in the fourth, perhaps the playcalling is different if a field goal is an option because they aren't down 13 points. Maybe Love doesn't throw the INT. I know, change one play, the butterfly effect, but my takeaway wasn't Love's poor play, it was a lot of other poor performances.

 

Maybe after ARod comes back they should see if Love could hold on FGs. I would think its pretty low injury risk and would allow having some tricks in the bag for fakes.

 

That's not going to happen. The ST unit works together throughout most of practice and they're not going to have the backup QB/potential heir use hours a day to hold FGs.

[brewcrewdue80]

I mean come on. This is akin to saying a starting pitcher that left the game in the 4th with a 6-6 tie gave his team a chance to win. They had a chance to win because the defense played their best game of the season. Any player who can hand the ball off to a RB can keep a team in the game if the defense isn't giving up points.

 

If the Chiefs are the normal Chiefs today the score is 31-7 and the narrative isn't "Jordan gave us a chance." He didn't play well. We all saw it.

 

Maybe your expectations for backup QBs is too high? Heck, look across the field and Mahomes is an int away from having a worse stat line. What’s his excuse?

 

Funny. Love was bailed out by at least 4 maybe 5 Special catches. 2 maybe 3 of which likely go for picks. Cobb absolutely stole the longest pass thrown for that 35yard completion. Dillon made 2 ridiculous catches. Lewis bailed him out on what had to be Love's most rookie looking toss for grabs to avoid a sack while not even looking where or who he was throwing to. How a Chief defender wasn't able to make a play on that ball is total luck. What was 1Int very much should have been 4 and possibly 5. Mahomes meanwhile had 3 significant drops that were all on 3rd downs that would have gone for 1st downs. Had a Super human Barnes make 3 spectacular stops that saved 2 first downs and 1TD. I think Cambell made 1 himself. You can't say that about the Chiefs defense. Maybe Mathieu had 1 but their defense is poor for a reason. Love didn't take advantage of it. You can clearly tell pre-snap he's not diagnosing the defense effectively. Throws were pretty inaccurate, I fear for Adams health because jumping up to make a once in a lifetime catch is going to get him hurt when the secondary defenders lay him out one of these times.

Someone mentioned calling screens. They did. Love threw at least 2 maybe 3 straight in to the ground to either avoid being sacked or poor tosses. A couple others went nowhere or less than 3yards. Part of that Oline pressure was them running screens ineffectively.

I'm not going to say Love will never have a career after this game. He's got a long way to go though. Defenses are only going to line up better than what he faced tonight. Moving forward my expectations are a Love start will equal 2-3Ints thrown each game. He's a 30+Int a season no doubt QB. With 17games He may reach 40s if played all QB snaps.

[sveumrules]

Yeah, we pretty much expect the special teams to suck every week for the past 10 years and Rodgers almost always overcomes them. Love won't ever be able to do that. Maybe with hard work Love can be a serviceable backup in this league for a long time but that's about it.

 

I didn't see the game but drawing this conclusion from his first meaningful live action is insane. The guy and team learned he was starting 4 days ago.

 

Before anyone says it, the standard simply can't be that Jordan Love should look as good as Aaron Rodgers did against the Cowboys. Rodgers may be a top 3 QB ever. Everyone needs to accept that the level of play we've seen at QB isn't going to continue.

 

But to claim "with hard work" his ceiling is a backup?

 

I thought after the Bucks don't have the will to win and the Packers CAN'T best the Cardinals you'd cool it for a little with these spicy takes.

It's hardly a spicy take. I've been saying this since the day he was drafted.

 

So what you are saying is Love's performance confirmed your existing bias?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

There's a bit of hyper-analyzing every little misfire Love made going on.

 

Rodgers, or any QB, throws their share of passes that DBs drop or WRs wrestle away or make great plays on. I've seen a few of the balls from yesterday and it certainly happened, but it happens in sports, to everybody. It definitely feels like some folks are stretching everywhere they can to rag on the guy. And it's not really necessary to do. He didn't look good.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I can see why someone would salivate seeing tape of Love. Easy throwing motion and the ball just pops out of his hand. I do wonder, though, if he will be able to find accuracy when he isn't able to set up and throw normally. I feel like in the modern NFL those guys probably get a chance to set and throw like that 15% of the time. The rest of the time they are on the move or throwing off their back foot.

 

If that's Love's game, he's just got to be better at making reads and he has to be given plays that take advantage of what he can do. Josh Allen still has accuracy problems whether he's on the move or not, but after 3+ seasons of playing time he's gone from questionable to great. Tom Brady did alright for himself being a pocket statue.

 

Love's biggest issues can be corrected over time with playing experience at the NFL level - sure, he could wind up not being a pro bowl caliber quarterback and washing out....but fans need to give him the opportunity to play consistently over a couple seasons to find out for sure what he is. The arm talent is definitely there, it's whether his decision making translates into the NFL game.

[homer]

Josh Allen's first year as a starter (12 games):

 

Comp %: 52.81

TD: 10

INT: 12

QBR: 67.9

 

(edit: Chorizo, I posted this before I saw your post. Was not in response to your Allen comment)

[PeaveyFury]

Mentioned yesterday but for emphasis, Rodgers' first NFL games where he was asked to actually play (IE, not subbing in for kneel-downs, etc):

 

12/19/05- 8/15, 65 YDS, 1 INT

11/19/06- 4/12, 32 YDS, QBR of a whopping 3.7, broke his left foot.

 

Rodgers didn't show flashes of looking like an NFL QB until his third season in the league.