Very little went right for the Green Bay Packers offense for the majority of Monday night’s game against the New York Giants. But despite all the struggles, this unit was able to create scoring opportunities late in the game that gave them a chance to win.
“I just think it speaks to the character of Jordan Love,” said Matt LaFleur on Tuesday, “just in terms of his mindset and what he’s all about. Finding a way to, it wasn’t easy, but finding a way to put us in a position where we could potentially win the football game. (He) made some plays down the stretch.”
From the start, for both Jordan Love and the passing game as a whole, this was not the same version of the Green Bay offense that we had seen the month prior. Love looked uncomfortable, Matt LaFleur would say that he was indecisive, especially early on, and that resulted in inaccurate throws and an overall disjointed performance in the pass game.
Love finished the game completing 25-of-39 passes, bolstered by his performance down the stretch. He was responsible for two turnovers, one an interception and the other a fumble, while averaging just 5.6 yards per pass. For some context, over the course of the year, that would have ranked 31st this season.
“Like I’ll often talk about, if you’re indecisive in this game, especially at that position, it’s hard to be effective all the time. I think there was a little bit of indecision early on. I think there was a point in time where he was like ‘screw it,’ I’m going to just go out there and play decisively and he played much, much better.”
However, despite the issues that the Giants presented Green Bay, along with the Packers own avalanche of self-inflicted errors, Love and the offense showed a lot of resiliency on those final three drives of the game.
Down 21-13 late in the third quarter, Love put together a 12-play, 48-yard drive that ended in a missed field goal by Anders Carlson. On the next Packers’ possession, the offense went 54 yards on seven plays and converted on that field goal attempt to cut the deficit to five. Then on the offense’s final possession of the game, Green Bay went 36 yards on nine plays for the score, with an assist from a Saquon Barkley fumble that put them in scoring position.
In total over the final three drives, Love would complete 11-of-16 passes, with 112 of his 218 total yards coming on those possessions. He averaged 7.0 yards per attempt and had one touchdown.
“It wasn’t my best game so far,” said Love on Wednesday. “A lot of things weren’t going right and I just kept telling myself move on to the next play. Keep that positive mindset that I’m going to make the next play. Obviously, some things played into it, the defense was able to get us the ball back on a couple of those drives. Even when we had those opportunities we were able to move it we didn’t capitalize in the red zone when we were able to. Missed a couple of those opportunities.
“But like I said, the defense was able to get us the ball back and that last drive we were able to finish it and put some points on the board, but a little too late. But it’s good to be able to see the offense finish a drive right there at the end and take the lead back. There’s so many things, missed opportunities that would have put the game away earlier. Just learning from that and growing from that.”
Although the outcome didn’t end in the Packers favor, the offense found itself in a familiar position with trailing late and having the ball in their hands. In previous instances in the early to middle portions of the season when in a similar situation against Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Denver, the offense failed to score, with two of those final possessions ending in an end zone interceptions by Love.
However, despite a losing effort, the offense continued to show growth, coming through with a late go-ahead score for the second time in the last four games.
“It’s something that I try to work on,” said Love about his even-keeled demeanor even when things aren’t going right. “I have to be locked in and telling myself move on to the next play. Don’t get frustrated with some of the turnovers I had and just overthinking things after that. Just telling myself forget about it, move on, and go make that next play. The same thing I tell everybody. But I think that’s the name of the game. If you get stuck on that’s when things snowball and go a little downhill. So just trying to do my best to keep calm and move on.”
The Packers are now heading into Week 15 and in the thick of the NFC playoff race. At this stage of the game, there are no moral victories for them—only real victories ultimately matter.
Although Love did not play his best ball for a large portion of the game, he showcased that resiliency that LaFleur often speaks about, and played his best football late, taking advantage of the opportunities given to him and taking the lead down the stretch. This is just one example over the course of a long NFL season, but in those circumstances, that’s how good quarterbacks respond.
