Jordan Love is taking a beating and still pushing the Packers forward.
That’s the clearest way to explain why the Green Bay quarterback belongs in the NFL MVP conversation after six games. He’s dealt with constant contact, a back injury that landed him on the injury report earlier this week and, according to head coach Matt LaFleur, a postgame stop with the team chiropractor.
“He was pretty beat up. He took some shots. I saw him in there with the chiropractor postgame so I knew something was up," LaFleur told the media on Thursday.
The punishment has been relentless. The Packers have allowed 13 sacks, which is actually a solid number on its face, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Love has been hit 30 times, third worst in the league behind the Las Vegas Raiders (32) and Los Angeles Rams (31). He’s been pressured 58 times, tied for seventh-worst in the league with the Cleveland Browns, and his average time in the pocket sits at 2.1 seconds, tied for the worst mark in the NFL.
That kind of environment usually drags a quarterback down. Love has done the opposite.
Even with all of that, he ranks fourth in the NFL in passing yards with 1,684, is tied for eighth in passing touchdowns with 11 and sits fifth in the league in yards thrown per game at 280.7.
And it hasn’t been empty production, either. The Packers are 4-2 after a rough 1-2 start, and Love has been the driving force behind that turnaround. He’s managed the hits, the injuries to top offensive teammates like Zach Bako-Bewele and Jayden Reed, and the drops from Matthew Golden and Christian Watson that popped up in the win over Dallas.
He worked through all of it and still produced.
That’s why the argument is getting real: through six games, Love has been everything the Packers could want from a starting quarterback and then some. There’s competition, sure, but DraftKings has him in the MVP mix with Josh Allen, Brock Purdy, Patrick Mahomes, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, Drake Maye and Lamar Jackson.
That’s the kind of company that tells you this isn’t just a hot start. It’s a quarterback playing himself into a serious MVP discussion.
In Other News...
Packers Defense Faces A Bigger Test Than Just Beating Detroit
The Packers and Lions are set to run it back after their Thanksgiving meeting, and this version of the matchup looks a lot different on both sides of the ball. Injuries have reshaped the defensive outlook for each team, which puts even more pressure on the pass rush to show up against quarterbacks Jared Goff and Jordan Love, two players who have helped drive this rivalry into one of the NFCs more interesting weekly measuring sticks.
Green Bays challenge goes beyond simply trying to beat Detroit again. The Packers are trying to keep their front intact while dealing with health issues up and down the roster, and the strain at defensive tackle has become impossible to ignore. In the middle of all that, the urgency around fortifying the defensive line has grown, because if the Packers cannot generate disruption up front, the rest of the matchup gets a lot tougher in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Must Deal With Detroit's Most Dangerous Weapon Sunday
Ahead of Sundays Week 7 matchup, Matt LaFleur had plenty of praise for one of Detroits biggest problems for opposing defenses: Jahmyr Gibbs. The Packers coach pointed to Gibbs change of direction and all-around versatility, a nod to the kind of stress he can put on a defense whether the Lions use him as a runner or as a receiver out of the backfield.
That versatility is exactly why Green Bay has spent the week thinking about how to slow him down while also getting its own ground game on track. Gibbs has already emerged as a central piece of Detroits offense, and if the Packers are going to control the matchup, theyll need a cleaner plan against a weapon who can affect the game in more than one way. [Read more 🡒]
Packers May Have A Special WR Duo If One Flaw Gets Fixed
Christian Watson and Matthew Golden have given the Packers something they have not always had at receiver: a true one-two punch that defenses have to account for on every snap. Through six games, they have both topped 500 receiving yards, making them the only Green Bay pair to reach that threshold and giving Jordan Love a reliable tandem that has helped drive the offense forward.
The production is real, and so is the chemistry, but there is still a nagging issue attached to the breakout. Both receivers have been part of the drop problem that has lingered around the offense, and those missed chances have kept the pairing from feeling fully complete even as it has become one of the leagues most dangerous combinations. [Read more 🡒]