The Jordan Love Era Begins

[rmontro]

Growth years suck at times folks, just part of it. I had some glimmer of hope but with Bakh and Jones and Watson not healthy I just don't see it happening.

It helps if you can see that you're really growing.

 

[gopkrs]

I'm not huge on the comparisons between Favre and Rodgers. I understand why it is done though. It makes sense to a degree. Different times and different players though. I've made it known that I am not a believer in Love. His performance against a pathetic Raiders squad was disheartening for me to watch. I'm not naming any stats. I'm just saying that he failed the old eyeball test. What I will say that I agree with is that he is almost set up to fail with having the youngest roster in the league. As mentioned by others, it doesn't help matters that Jones has been hurt all season and others have been in and out of the lineup. It's hard to get any cohesiveness with all the movement of players. There's a lot that needs to get right beyond just Love. Regardless of what happens, he's our guy and will have an extremely long leash. Personally, I think the coaches need to do a better job of setting these guys up for success. For example, Dillon basically scored on a drive by himself. Just pounded the rock and scored a TD. Not sure why they started going away from that. Get some more play action off of that and make some simple crossing patterns and outs for easier completions. I feel they are trying to get a little too fancy with some of the screens and flee flickers. Let's stop wasting those downs. Again, I'm not thrilled with what I've seen from Love, but he's our guy for 2023. GPG!

It's basically impossible to compare unless you also compare each position imho. And also the defenses they played. I think they stopped going to Dillon because in the first place he was not gaining yardage easily and secondly the defense started tightening up and he really wasn't going anywhere.

 

[gopkrs]

Strangely enough, despite all the continuing chatter about getting rid of Joe Barry, the defense has been one of the better parts of our game, although not really great.

The D has played better. It's just some of those 3rd down alignments that are so questionable. And the openness of a lot of throws in the flat.

 

[tynimiller]

It helps if you can see that you're really growing.

LOL, you missed the growth years. Also setbacks and highs and lows are riddled throughout such seasons. Dear Lord, Love looked poised, accurate and very good with protecting the ball the first couple games...then terrible at times mixed with some bad routes and or bad luck.

There is also more than just Love out there growing too, but that's for another thread this is Love dedicated.

 

[Krabs]

It's basically impossible to compare unless you also compare each position imho. And also the defenses they played.

I overall agree with this. The Raiders are a mess of an organization. I think that tells you where the Packers are right now as opposed to Love. Now, he played horribly and I put a fair amount of blame on him for the loss. There also is not anything to lean on or give him relief.

I think they stopped going to Dillon because in the first place he was not gaining yardage easily and secondly the defense started tightening up and he really wasn't going anywhere.

I kind of get what you're saying. He did get 20 carries for 76 yards and 1 TD. I feel he did his part. Passing game stunk.

 

[tynimiller]

Difference being Ted set up Rodgers for success while Gute has done jack squat for Love.

You do understand cap structure and the MASSIVE fiscal pill Russ Ball was handed by Gute trying to appease Rodgers? You don't just swallow that much money.

DEAD MONEY FROM RODGERS - $40+ MILLION
Amos $7.9M
and between Cobb/Lewis/Reed/O'Donnell/Lowry/Tonyan/Crosby there is another $8.5M having to be swallowed...

Not too mention the RB contract we have with Jones.

Part of this year's issues isn't just everyone is INSANELY young and inexperienced, but that we are swallowing the largest fiscal dead money pill we may ever have to.

This year has always been about one thing and that is the staff/management figuring out if Love is the QB or not - if he is they have swallowed this massive pill, have solid draft equity for 2024 and some fiscal spending to do on extending Gary who is arguably the only massive one of all the contract expiring guys.

IF Love isn't you still have all the above to go try and find the QB.

 

[mradtke66]

The team around Love is not up to snuff, I don't know how anyone can debate that. A different smell than 2008's defense dropping the ball, but its of the same ilk.

However, I don't think the dead cap from this year is the real problem. It's sure not helping anything, but isn't the cause. I put most of the blame on the end of TT's drafting, leading to Gute needing to do have to re-draft some positions (Looking at you, CB), and both of them mostly ignoring the WR position.

FA is for filling gaps and fixing mistakes. Even if we had the money this past offseason, no one on the list was probably worth signing. https://walterfootball.com/freeagents2023wr.php Teams don't let good players make it to FA.

 

[rmontro]

LOL, you missed the growth years.

Not hardly. I suffered through the '70s and '80s just like many on this forum. They were especially difficult because you couldn't really see the light at the end of the tunnel, at least I couldn't. It wasn't until Ron Wolf hired Mike Holmgren that there was any real hope of things turning around, especially when Reggie White and Brett Favre were brought in.

 

[tynimiller]

Not hardly. I suffered through the '70s and '80s just like many on this forum. They were especially difficult because you couldn't really see the light at the end of the tunnel, at least I couldn't. It wasn't until Ron Wolf hired Mike Holmgren that there was any real hope of things turning around, especially when Reggie White and Brett Favre were brought in.

I meant you missed the first part of my post you replied to, not that you haven't seen growth years before. Let's not talk about those dark days LOL

 

[Pkrjones]

Not hardly. I suffered through the '70s and '80s just like many on this forum. They were especially difficult because you couldn't really see the light at the end of the tunnel, at least I couldn't. It wasn't until Ron Wolf hired Mike Holmgren that there was any real hope of things turning around, especially when Reggie White and Brett Favre were brought in.

The turnaround began with Wolf hiring Holmgren, trading for Favre, and then the signing of Reggie White in the 1st year of the modern- time free agency. Perfect storm for GB.

 

[Mavster]

Gute's hands are tied in '23 with $60.35mil dead money. Not much room to add vet talent so loaded up offense with young talent. Need to hope & pray OL can keep it together, and that WR's & TE's can grow quickly. Defense needs to carry GB, which we can all agree is a tall task with Barry at the helm.

The GM caused the cap problem

 

[Pkrjones]

The GM caused the cap problem

...which needs to be fixed in '23. Odds were high against a seamless transition to Love so Gute IS fixing his cap-mess. I foolishly thought both could happen this season.

 

[Schultz]

I remember the talk of "we will know more about Love halfway through the season". I agreed with it then and I agree with it now. After game 9 I will chime in. IMO none of us will be any clearer on if Love "is the guy or not" even by season's end due to the injuries to an already suspect roster. At that point I believe we will all be relying on the eye test instead of statistical comparisons. Well at least those of us with open minds will. Now my opinion on how we got here is well documented.

 

[tynimiller]

The GM caused the cap problem

A LARGE issue with the cap was to make Rodgers happy....so in one post your ******* Gute because Ted set Rodgers up for success but Gute didn't for Love....Gute I would argue catered to Rodgers more than he should have with contracts and personnel stuff (other than first round picks) and here we are.

 

[tynimiller]

I remember the talk of "we will know more about Love halfway through the season". I agreed with it then and I agree with it now. After game 9 I will chime in. IMO none of us will be any clearer on if Love "is the guy or not" even by season's end due to the injuries to an already suspect roster. At that point I believe we will all be relying on the eye test instead of statistical comparisons. Well at least those of us with open minds will. Now my opinion on how we got here is well documented.

Agreed! I was hoping a middle of the seasons extension like Rodgers might be possible...with all things considered I think even if Gute and Co. are very confident in Love they'd be crazy to make that move. You extended him and avoided a 5th year option balloon in 2024, let's make the call in that season.

 

[mradtke66]

A LARGE issue with the cap was to make Rodgers happy....so in one post your ******* Gute because Ted set Rodgers up for success but Gute didn't for Love....Gute I would argue catered to Rodgers more than he should have with contracts and personnel stuff (other than first round picks) and here we are.

I'm trying to minimize slinging blame, so my phrasing might seem a little odd...

The offense of 2022 and 2023 is paying the price for a lack of good pass catcher added after 2014. Sure, some picks were spent, but mostly late round players, other than the other Rodgers. Both GMs prioritized elsewhere and eventually, the threshold was crossed where the QB could no longer make Chicken Salad out of Chicken....stuff.

I'm still a big believer in doing the majority of your building from the draft. Ignoring TE/WR for so long left a hole on our roster. Not just in raw ability, but who's the guy helping them on the field? Imparting wisdom on releases? Watson/Doubs/Tourie/Reed look like excellent candidates, but we got them too close together. I'm not normally a fan of older vets, but a receiver who had to work hard to survive (Driver or Jennings type? Good but not a given) would be useful to this team.

 

[milani]

Difference being Ted set up Rodgers for success while Gute has done jack squat for Love.

TT set up the offense for Rodgers but did not do much for the D. He sadly lost Nick Collins and let go Cullen Jenkins and Aaron Kampman. He missed on some defensive picks. And Tauscher and Clifton were there before TT was named GM.
A better example of building a team around your QB was Ron Wolf. He goes out and gets Reggie, Sean Jones, Santana Dotson, and he got Gilbert Brown who was originally in the Vikings organization. Then, to complement LeRoy Butler he gets Eugene Robinson for 2 seasons. That was a GM!

 

[milani]

It helps if you can see that you're really growing.

I was about 15 back in the day. And I looked in the mirror and discovered I had stopped growing. At least in the upward direction.

 

[Mavster]

A LARGE issue with the cap was to make Rodgers happy....so in one post your ******* Gute because Ted set Rodgers up for success but Gute didn't for Love....Gute I would argue catered to Rodgers more than he should have with contracts and personnel stuff (other than first round picks) and here we are.

The GM has failed.

 

[Pkrjones]

I'm officially OFF of the Jordan Love fan club. Decision making is horrible, accuracy is poor, and nobody (players, fans, watrr girls) have any confidence that he can lead this team.

In my '23 Amish draft prediction I wanted to take Bagent in the 6th round. He looked light-years ahead of Love in QB play for da'Bears and this was only his first start, today.

Plenty of blame to go around for GB woes, but Love is NOT the answer.

*** EDIT *** I'm back on, such a dramatic turnaround in his play the last 8-10 games.

 

[JK64]

I wouldn't pay Love a big contract. Would be a waste. For those pining to get rid of Rodgers??? Hahahahaha

 

[Magooch]

It’s been mentioned elsewhere, but previously the team felt confident enough in Rodgers to sign him to a long-term deal on October 31 of his first starting season.

That’s about a week away.

Hypothetically speaking, if you HAD to choose on October 31 of this year whether or not you’d commit long-term to Love, how many can honestly say they’d be willing to make that commitment at this point?

 

[JK64]

Hypothetically speaking, if you HAD to choose on October 31 of this year whether or not you’d commit long-term to Love, how many can honestly say they’d be willing to make that commitment at this point?

I'm out.

 

[AmishMafia]

I wouldn't pay Love a big contract. Would be a waste. For those pining to get rid of Rodgers??? Hahahahaha

Games won so far this season:

Love: 2
Rodgers: 0

 

[Firethorn1001]

Hypothetically speaking, if you HAD to choose on October 31 of this year whether or not you’d commit long-term to Love, how many can honestly say they’d be willing to make that commitment at this point?

They throw $200M at Love right now that person needs to be fired. No way no how.

Could it be justified by Oct 31st 2024? Maybe.. but right now no.