The Jordan Love Era Begins

[AmishMafia]

The thing is, I've heard that multiple times over the years. Maybe this time it is correct. But like the last 2 or 3 times people claimed Rodgers wasn't capable of throwing to the middle, he showed that he clearly could and did so when he had guys on the field that knew what they were doing. Like always, the middle of the field is a dangerous place when timing isn't right, when guys go a yard too deep or shallow, when they stop their routes early or continue thru zones when they should sit down.

The occasional missed receiver is not as detrimental as a turnover and when guys aren't doing what they should be regularly, those happen regularly throwing to the middle.

Maybe.

But there were throws where the guy is open for a 1st down and Rodgers, a first ballot HOFer, throws it out of bounds. There was an option to throw it to a spot where only the WR can get to it. It was very frustrating.

Look, I don't know why we bother. History is in the eye of the beholder. I think we can all agree Rodgers, AFBHOFer, skill level and attitude had deteriorated with the Packers. The level of drop off is where we would disagree as well as the excuses made for him. There are a few, though, who believe he is still in his prime.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

The Patriots won 6 SB's with Tom Brady. Sheesh, is it too much to ask for 1 more with a QB as good as Rodgers. Not to mention Mahomes already has two.

If you want to continue to use Tom Brady and the Patriots as your measuring stick of success, you are going to be very disappointed. If you don't believe me, talk to these QB's and their fans. Oh I know, they are "different", because Rodgers is a Packer.

Dan Marino
Jim Kelly
Fran Tarkenton
Dan Fouts
Warren Moon
Vinny Testaverde
Ken Anderson
Steve McNair
Donovan McNabb
Phillip Rivers
Randall Cunningham
Matt Ryan
Boomer Esiason

 

[Schultz]

I get it. Ignore any negative evidence.

Fading arm strength. Resulted in a change of throwing motion. Perhaps reason for loss of accuracy. Refusal to throw to open receivers in middle of the field maybe because of accuracy issues.

Thank you for your actual answer. Please tell me if by miss, you mean he does not see them, or his throws miss these receivers. Thanks in advance.

 

[tynimiller]

The Patriots won 6 SB's with Tom Brady. Sheesh, is it too much to ask for 1 more with a QB as good as Rodgers. Not to mention Mahomes already has two.

Ask, no. Expect - honestly yes.

 

[Mondio]

I don't think anybody on here believes he's in his prime. I know I don't. His game has changed. He's still better than I think many on here would give him credit for. I think much of the drop off has been various injuries at some points and the quality of pass catchers we can keep on the practice and playing field consistently. Much more so than the drop off in skill.

 

[AmishMafia]

Thank you for your actual answer. Please tell me if by miss, you mean he does not see them, or his throws miss these receivers. Thanks in advance.

He sees them, he just does not make the throw.

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Take this one. An easy throw. Wide open. Probable touchdown. He looks at the receiver and then throws it out of bounds.

How do you explain it? If you don't trust your WR, fine. But you have some chance he catches it and scores a TD. You have no chance if you throw it out of bounds.

 

[Mondio]

He sees them, he just does not make the throw.

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Take this one. An easy throw. Wide open. Probable touchdown. He looks at the receiver and then throws it out of bounds.

How do you explain it? If you don't trust your WR, fine. But you have some chance he catches it and scores a TD. You have no chance if you throw it out of bounds.

and that happens all the time with other QB's and more often that it seemed to before with Rodgers, but still we're talking about the talking heads finding 1, maybe 2 a game they can chop up and say , 'see, he's lost it"

and what seems easy could easily have been Rodgers misreading the presnap or the receiver. I don't know which, but it's not easy when you're thinking X and Y happens and then you have a linemans leg between yours and you have to make a decision

Let's just assume, Rodgers misread the play, Rodgers got jumpy and threw it away early, Rodgers is seeing ghosts out there, and Rodgers wasted the entire play. Still, it's not the norm and still better than most other QB's in the league. It proves what I've always known, he's not perfect. it doesn't prove he's lost it.

 

[AmishMafia]

and that happens all the time with other QB's and more often that it seemed to before with Rodgers, but still we're talking about the talking heads finding 1, maybe 2 a game they can chop up and say , 'see, he's lost it"

and what seems easy could easily have been Rodgers misreading the presnap or the receiver. I don't know which, but it's not easy when you're thinking X and Y happens and then you have a linemans leg between yours and you have to make a decision

Let's just assume, Rodgers misread the play, Rodgers got jumpy and threw it away early, Rodgers is seeing ghosts out there, and Rodgers wasted the entire play. Still, it's not the norm and still better than most other QB's in the league. It proves what I've always known, he's not perfect. it doesn't prove he's lost it.

I have watched Rodgers play numerous times. He is much different as a QB than he was 10 years ago. His quick twitch accurate ball - "throwing the WR open" is long gone. He didn't need a wide open WR, a half step would do.

I see these missed opportunities more than once or twice a game. And again, he didn't even need a guy to be this open back in the day.

 

[Krabs]

Man, I've really missed some back and forth here. Some shots fired even. I'm on the side that our best chance at winning was to keep Rodgers. I also think that the deal they got for an 18 year veteran was a pretty good return on investment. I'm not sold on Love, but obviously hope it works out. I also think that taking a player that could have help over the last three seasons would have made more sense. In the end, the Love era has begun. My preference would have been to keep Rodgers and see what happens. He didn't want it and it seems the Packers didn't either. Buckle up, it's going to be a wild ride either way!

 

[milani]

It's truly mind-boggling that there are so many posters coming up with obscure excuses as to why any other prospect selected wouldn't have made a more positive impact than Love over the first three seasons in the league despite it being all but guaranteed that it would have happened.



The Packers lost two playoff games by only a score. Another prospect who would have made only one play could have made a difference. Instead the Packers' first round pick wasn't even on the field for any of those games.



Every quarterback in the league misses open receivers. I'm quite sure Rodgers has done it less than most others though.

Ya know, I look back to the 2007 Arctic Championship Game at Lambeau that we lost to the Giants in OT and I noticed that Rodgers was not on the field for that game either. Just one play away from getting to face the Patriots. Could one other player drafted in 2005 made a difference that day as long as he did not get frost bitten.

 

[Mondio]

Ya know, I look back to the 2007 Arctic Championship Game at Lambeau that we lost to the Giants in OT and I noticed that Rodgers was not on the field for that game either. Just one play away from getting to face the Patriots. Could one other player drafted in 2005 made a difference that day as long as he did not get frost bitten.

It could have, but again, the situation in which Rodgers was selected and when Love was selected are mostly on polar opposite ends.

one, a selection made after repeated will he or won't he return seasons, with an aging roster in need of turnover, who promptly showed the need for turnover and renewal that very next season and 2 rather poor seasons to follow that up and then the team looking good. A different player on a 4 win team doesn't exactly get the " what if's" flowing from me.

The other, a selection made on a rather young ascending roster, who had a blip after an injury and a QB that then led that roster to back to back 13 win seasons. A different player selected on a 13 win team invites a little more speculation.

 

[gopkrs]

Ya know, I look back to the 2007 Arctic Championship Game at Lambeau that we lost to the Giants in OT and I noticed that Rodgers was not on the field for that game either. Just one play away from getting to face the Patriots. Could one other player drafted in 2005 made a difference that day as long as he did not get frost bitten.

Rodgers at QB might have helped.

 

[Schultz]

He sees them, he just does not make the throw.

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Take this one. An easy throw. Wide open. Probable touchdown. He looks at the receiver and then throws it out of bounds.

How do you explain it? If you don't trust your WR, fine. But you have some chance he catches it and scores a TD. You have no chance if you throw it out of bounds.

Correct me if I am wrong. Part of your theory seemed to be that he has lost his accuracy throwing over the middle. I just can't get my head around that he is afraid to throw an inaccurate pass for an incompletion so he throws the ball away for an incompletion instead.

 

[Schultz]

I don't think anybody on here believes he's in his prime. I know I don't. His game has changed. He's still better than I think many on here would give him credit for. I think much of the drop off has been various injuries at some points and the quality of pass catchers we can keep on the practice and playing field consistently. Much more so than the drop off in skill.

Same here. IMO some people like to think that they know what other people are thinking.

 

[Schultz]

I have watched Rodgers play numerous times. He is much different as a QB than he was 10 years ago. His quick twitch accurate ball - "throwing the WR open" is long gone. He didn't need a wide open WR, a half step would do.

I see these missed opportunities more than once or twice a game. And again, he didn't even need a guy to be this open back in the day.

In almost any sport (insert name) is much different (insert position) than he was 10 years ago. I (and I believe others) are not saying AR is in his prime. IMO the current AR gives the GB Packers a better chance to win games than JLove. No disrespect to Love but I feel AR is still a top 12 QB in the NFL and Jordan is an unknown.

 

[PikeBadger]

You're right, for some reason I can't remember any uproar on internet forums when Horn was drafted either



For some reason you completely ignore that rookies picked late in the first round and even in the following rounds can definitely have an immediate impact. There are a ton of examples for it, I mentioned some of them with the Chiefs last year in one of my last posts on the topic.

I agree teams shouldn't rely on that happening though.



While Rodgers' adjusted completion percentage dropped from 47.2% in 2020 to 41.1% in '21 his deep ball accuracy wasn't that much worse in 2021 as it was in '20 as you want to make us believe.

1. I don't completely ignore it, which is why you can't figure out the reason I guess. There are also examples of guys signed in the 3rd week and beyond of free agency that make immediate impacts. I think over exposing most rookies has detrimental impacts to team success.

2. A tad hawty and condescending, don't you think? I guess I must just $uck.

 

[gopkrs]

In almost any sport (insert name) is much different (insert position) than he was 10 years ago. I (and I believe others) are not saying AR is in his prime. IMO the current AR gives the GB Packers a better chance to win games than JLove. No disrespect to Love but I feel AR is still a top 12 QB in the NFL and Jordan is an unknown.

I guess so. But not much time left and I'm happy to get compensation and move on.

 

[milani]

It could have, but again, the situation in which Rodgers was selected and when Love was selected are mostly on polar opposite ends.

one, a selection made after repeated will he or won't he return seasons, with an aging roster in need of turnover, who promptly showed the need for turnover and renewal that very next season and 2 rather poor seasons to follow that up and then the team looking good. A different player on a 4 win team doesn't exactly get the " what if's" flowing from me.

The other, a selection made on a rather young ascending roster, who had a blip after an injury and a QB that then led that roster to back to back 13 win seasons. A different player selected on a 13 win team invites a little more speculation.

But then you have to realize that the 2005 team was coming off 4 straight division titles and still had #4 as their QB. Whereas the 2020 team did go 13-3 in 2019 but the 2018 team had a losing season. And that 2007 team did win 13 games also and defeated Seattle in the playoffs. And a number of players from 2005 were still on that 2007 team. The 2007 team was as close and probably even closer to the SB than either the 2020 or 2021 Packers.

 

[AmishMafia]

Correct me if I am wrong. Part of your theory seemed to be that he has lost his accuracy throwing over the middle. I just can't get my head around that he is afraid to throw an inaccurate pass for an incompletion so he throws the ball away for an incompletion instead.

He lost accuracy period. Not just over the middle. It is very tough to explain his reluctance to make some throws. Some say it's hero ball mentality, i heard some say it's to punish receivers who dropped a pass in the past, I don't know. I believe he wants to win games, so it makes no sense.

 

[milani]

Rodgers at QB might have helped.

That is always a good one to have considered. Rodgers had the mobility then. But Favre had more experience at that time playing in the snow and sub zero temperatures of northern Wisconsin. Rodgers did not. And that was not a day for QBs to scramble and run. The tundra was frozen and the footing was not the best.

 

[Mondio]

He lost accuracy period. Not just over the middle. It is very tough to explain his reluctance to make some throws. Some say it's hero ball mentality, i heard some say it's to punish receivers who dropped a pass in the past, I don't know. I believe he wants to win games, so it makes no sense.

I don’t believe he’s ever punished a receiver for dropping the ball. I remember points going back to Jennings, Jones, jordy, Cobb, Adam’s, Ruevel Martin, Boykin, then MvS St. brown and even Doubs last year. He almost made it a point to go right back to them after a drop to get them back in the game.

I’m certain he punished players for not working hard and then making mistakes on a down to down basis.

I don’t think he’s ever minded the physical mistakes, but he sure has a great dislike for poor work ethic and the mistakes that come from that. And rightfully so IMO.

 

[Schultz]

I guess so. But not much time left and I'm happy to get compensation and move on.

I genuinely respect your polite response and opinion.

 

[OldSchool101]

He sees them, he just does not make the throw.

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Take this one. An easy throw. Wide open. Probable touchdown. He looks at the receiver and then throws it out of bounds.

How do you explain it? If you don't trust your WR, fine. But you have some chance he catches it and scores a TD. You have no chance if you throw it out of bounds.

Was that Sammy Watkins in the Paint in the final seconds? He never so much as looked for the ball? It’s like he was in his own world out there

Yes. Deguara has a 50/50 chance of muscling for a TD if that ball hits him in stride as he accelerated. The LB lost him by remaining stagnant and the Safety at best meets him inside the 5-10 yard line if the throw comes out immediately. Far too much hesitation on the throw and I’m not sure what #12 saw there but even in live speed it Looks like an easy throw for a first down and maybe a TD. My guess is he was wanting to hit Sammy and Watkins fell asleep.

 

[Schultz]

But then you have to realize that the 2005 team was coming off 4 straight division titles and still had #4 as their QB. Whereas the 2020 team did go 13-3 in 2019 but the 2018 team had a losing season. And that 2007 team did win 13 games also and defeated Seattle in the playoffs. And a number of players from 2005 were still on that 2007 team. The 2007 team was as close and probably even closer to the SB than either the 2020 or 2021 Packers.

They must of really had bad STs then if they didn't make it.

 

[Schultz]

He lost accuracy period. Not just over the middle. It is very tough to explain his reluctance to make some throws. Some say it's hero ball mentality, i heard some say it's to punish receivers who dropped a pass in the past, I don't know. I believe he wants to win games, so it makes no sense.

Thank you for your well thought out and polite reply. In contrast I always thought hero ball was making risky throws instead of throwing the ball away. So that leaves us with the punish receivers theory. Add in his ego (just caring about his own stats) as some have eluded to plus I agree he wants to win and it makes even less than no sense. This has turned out to be a very complicated question.