A theme has emerged through the first few weeks of Green Bay Packers training camp: first-year starter Jordan Love is capable of producing the “wow” throws down the field, but he’s also needing to build more consistency on deep attempts.
During Wednesday’s joint practice in Cincinnati, Love hit Romeo Doubs on a perfectly-thrown deep ball for a likely touchdown during a third-down period but also underthrew Doubs on another deep shot and just missed Luke Musgrave on another.
“I think it’s something we have to keep working at,” Love said following the practice. “Obviously different looks, receivers might be getting held up a little bit so the timing is off. We just have to keep working on it. I think we had some really good plays. (Romeo) had a really nice one down the sideline that he probably scores on, and then obviously we had one down here in two minute, and then I had one to Luke on the sideline that I just overthrew a little bit, but something we’ll just keep working.”
Per Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Love has “had issues with leading receivers on deep balls during camp.”
One miss was just a slight miss that negated a big play to Doubs during the two-minute period. He also missed Musgrave for what could have been an explosive play.
This tracks with Love’s performances through the first 10 practices of camp. On Day 1, he missed a few open deep shots in the wind. On Family Night, he just missed on a deep throw to Doubs against Jaire Alexander. But he’s also thrown several passes creating big plays that receivers described as perfect, and his throw to Doubs on a go-route Wednesday would certainly qualify as another.
As always, consistency is the deciding factor from good and great. Love and his young receivers and tight ends are clearly still working on chemistry, a vital component of a passing game. The quarterback has to have a deep comfort level for where receivers will be at every moment in a play, and this feel only develops with reps. Love must also continue working on his deep accuracy and making sure he’s hitting a good percentage of available explosive plays.
Hitting big plays will be huge for the Packers offense in 2023. Love has the arm to get the ball to any point on the field, and the skill positions are filled with the necessary speed to get open down field. Doubs, Musgrave and Christian Watson are all big-play threats. Now, Love and the passing game must establish more consistency connecting down the field. Three preseason games and two more joint practices (vs. Patriots) provide plenty of opportunities to accomplish the task before Week 1 in Chicago.
