Jordan Love keeps putting Green Bay in position to win, and the Packers keep letting the ball hit the turf.
That was the story again on Sunday Night Football, when Christian Watson and Matthew Golden combined to drop three touchdowns. Watson’s was contested, with three Dallas Cowboys defenders in the area and one possibly getting a hand on the ball. The two throws to Golden, though, hit him right in the hands.
So far, that’s been the Packers’ season in a nutshell. Green Bay leads the league with a 7.2% drop rate, according to ESPN Analytics, and PFF says the Packers have eight more drops than the next closest team in the league.
Even with all that frustration around him, Love never flinched. He kept feeding Golden, and the second-year receiver responded with six catches for 104 yards. Golden had a career-high 13 targets and has now topped 100 receiving yards in three of his last four games.
Watson, meanwhile, was more of an afterthought. He caught three passes on eight targets for 64 yards, his third-lowest yardage output through six games this season.
The bigger picture is hard to ignore: Love is stacking up numbers that put him right in the MVP conversation.
Only two quarterbacks have more passing yards than him right now. Through six games, Love ranks third in the league with 1,684 passing yards, behind CJ Stroud’s 1,714 and Matthew Stafford’s 1,794. He’s also thrown 11 touchdowns, which leaves him in a tie for seventh, and his 226 pass attempts are the sixth-most in the league.
The completion percentage tells part of the story, but not all of it. Love is at 59.7%, and those drops have dragged that number down. A year ago, he completed a career-high 66.3% of his throws, and he has never finished a full season below 63.1%.
Green Bay’s offense has forced him to carry more, especially with the run game struggling badly. The offensive line also let him down three times against Dallas, but Love still looked sharp on third down and kept trusting his receivers after they left points on the field.
At this point, the equation is pretty simple: Love is doing enough to win at an elite level. The question is whether the Packers’ pass catchers will finally hold up their end of the bargain.
In Other News...
Packers Suddenly Have A Backfield Question Fans Didn't Expect
Green Bays 23-13 win over Dallas brought plenty of encouraging signs, from Matthew Goldens impact in the passing game to a secondary that helped keep the Cowboys in check. Jordan Loves offense moved efficiently enough despite a few drops, and Matt LaFleurs plan drew positive notice as the Packers continued to show a more balanced feel on that side of the ball.
The one unexpected wrinkle came in the backfield, where MarShawn Lloyd never found much rhythm and Pierre Strong Jr. ended up handling the bulk of the work early. For a team that left Week 6 feeling good about several key pieces, the running game suddenly looks like the place where Green Bay has to sort out who it wants carrying the load going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Offense Still Looks Broken After Another Brutal Loss
Dallas looked stuck in neutral again at Lambeau Field, where the Packers turned a promising afternoon into another rough result for a Cowboys offense still searching for answers. Green Bays defense bothered Dak Prescott throughout the day, and the game tilted quickly as the Packers built a lead that put Dallas in chase mode before halftime. Jordan Love did enough to keep Green Bay in control, throwing for 276 yards and accounting for two touchdowns as the Packers moved to 4-2.
The bigger concern for Dallas was how familiar the script felt, with the offense failing to find rhythm and the defense unable to keep the game within reach. Green Bays interceptions of Prescott were part of the damage, and the Packers never really let the Cowboys settle into anything comfortable on either side of the ball. For a team that came into the day at 2-3, the loss leaves another lingering question about how much better this offense can get before the standings start to harden around it. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Gannon Is Already Changing The Feel Of This Packers Defense
Six weeks into the season, Jonathan Gannon has already given Green Bays defense a noticeably different edge. The former Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator has helped steady a unit that looks much more disruptive and organized than it did a year ago, with several players stepping up around him and making the group more competitive on a weekly basis.
The results have shown up even with key names missing from the lineup, which makes the early turnaround stand out even more. Green Bay has found a way to stay productive and force mistakes while waiting for pieces to get healthy, and the question now is how much higher this defense can climb once the full group is available again. [Read more 🡒]