Through Three Weeks 2023 vs 2022 and 2021...

[tynimiller]

Statistics fail to tell the whole story for sure - have to lead with that. BUT, wanted to provide this year through three, 2022 through three and 2021 through three passer stats and ratings.

Many know or knew I am a Love fan, but I had serious apprehension on his abilities and how it would look especially early.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

It is crazy to think how "clean" Love has been in the turnover column so far and I think one thing he has for sure learned from sitting behind Rodgers is how pivotal that aspect of the game is. The GLARING spot everyone knows is there is the completion percentage....imagine what Love would have done so far had he just completed 60%....which is still quite a bit behind the typical Rodgers.


All in all though outside of Completion percentage we are actually getting a lot more similar play out of the QB than I would have ever bet on.

One aspect I didn't include before typing this was rushing yards...submitting those below through three:

2022 - Rodgers had 8 yards
2021 - Rodgers had 6 yards
2023 - Love has 74 yards


BUT look at Rodgers early in career:

2008 - had 44 yards through three
2009 - had 92 yards through three



Just some comparisons for observational purposes. Will attempt to do this a few times through the season just for tracking sake and observations.

 

[tynimiller]

One additional thing for everyone to strongly consider when judging Jordan Love's completion percentage. He right now has the highest ADOT out of all starters in the NFL.

The next three highest are:
Derek Carr is a half a yard less but closest and his completion percentage is 65.5%
Tannehill is 1.2 yards less and his is 59%
Hurts is 1.3 yards less and his is 67.7%



Joe Burrow is 3.9 yards less than Love and his is 55.4%.....and cool Joe is considered to be one of the best young QBs coming up...

 

[El Guapo]

For those like me that don't know what ADOT means, I looked it up:

ADOT: Average depth of target - indicates how deep the average pass targeted for this player traveled in the air.

 

[tynimiller]

For those like me that don't know what ADOT means, I looked it up:

ADOT: Average depth of target - indicates how deep the average pass targeted for this player traveled in the air.

My bad, that was oversight on me - good catch!

 

[El Guapo]

Good analysis. I think that for Packers fans, it is good to see how Love is stacking up to Favre and Rodgers in terms of first games. However, those were different times. Comparing him to the other recent new starting QBs may be more relevant. How is he doing in comparison to other new QBs versus how is he doing compared to two HOFers.

I'm not dumping on your analysis, just pointing out some other stats that I would find interesting but don't have the desire to dig up!

 

[El Guapo]

Love is certainly using his legs as another weapon. The Saints have aggressive CBs. They played extremely tight coverage. I was a little shocked at how many times Love threw the ball up on fade routes to covered WRs. However, everyone was generally covered tightly. I heard one of our WRs say after the game that he complained to the ref about the aggressive play of Saints CBs. The ref told him to fight back. So essentially our young guys had to learn how to fight for balls and Love was more than happy to heave them out there. Rodgers would never have taken those chances. Love will get intercepted for sure, but I think that it's a good sign that he's willing to take chances when things aren't there. Rodgers would have thrown the ball away or taken sacks, then given some big gesture to his WR that he should have run his route differently, while showing that "you disappoint me" look.

 

[tynimiller]

Good analysis. I think that for Packers fans, it is good to see how Love is stacking up to Favre and Rodgers in terms of first games. However, those were different times. Comparing him to the other recent new starting QBs may be more relevant. How is he doing in comparison to other new QBs versus how is he doing compared to two HOFers.

I'm not dumping on your analysis, just pointing out some other stats that I would find interesting but don't have the desire to dig up!

Oh tons of ways to observe play for sure - I just expected a bigger drop personally vs the last two years. Give me a lunch period and maybe I can have some of those comps for you

 

[tynimiller]

Love is certainly using his legs as another weapon. The Saints have aggressive CBs. They played extremely tight coverage. I was a little shocked at how many times Love threw the ball up on fade routes to covered WRs. However, everyone was generally covered tightly. I heard one of our WRs say after the game that he complained to the ref about the aggressive play of Saints CBs. The ref told him to fight back. So essentially our young guys had to learn how to fight for balls and Love was more than happy to heave them out there. Rodgers would never have taken those chances. Love will get intercepted for sure, but I think that it's a good sign that he's willing to take chances when things aren't there. Rodgers would have thrown the ball away or taken sacks, then given some big gesture to his WR that he should have run his route differently, while showing that "you disappoint me" look.

There was a TON of contact on balls thrown in that game from the Saints. That crew was letting them play for sure more than most.

 

[mradtke66]

I'm certainly concerned about Love's completion percentage and is YPA. If he has more completions, his YPA will of course go up.

His receivers aren't always helping him--there have been some very catchable balls he's dropped. He also needs to improve his placement. Some of those "good defense" plays by the Saints are due to him leading when he shouldn't, not leading when he should, putting it a little too high, etc.

There is give and take here. I expect him to get better over time, but historically, accuracy tends to remain consistent from college to the pros. He was a 55, 65, 62 thrower. His ceiling may be 60-ish, but we could really use that bump.

 

[tynimiller]

I'm certainly concerned about Love's completion percentage and is YPA. If he has more completions, his YPA will of course go up.

His receivers aren't always helping him--there have been some very catchable balls he's dropped. He also needs to improve his placement. Some of those "good defense" plays by the Saints are due to him leading when he shouldn't, not leading when he should, putting it a little too high, etc.

There is give and take here. I expect him to get better over time, but historically, accuracy tends to remain consistent from college to the pros. He was a 55, 65, 62 thrower. His ceiling may be 60-ish, but we could really use that bump.

Well good news is Rodgers was a 61.6 and 66.1 guy at Cal....Love a 54.9, 64.0 and 61.9 guy at Utah State....

Rodgers career average is 65.3. I fully expect Love to settle in, refine and be a 60-65% type guy or so.

 

[Pugger]

We don't need Love to be Rodgers or Favre. If he ends up being an above average starting NFL QB that should be good enough.

 

[El Guapo]

We don't need him to be, but darn it if we're not going to hope that he get to that level...or better.