Jordan Love isn't overly concerned about how teams will defend him this season, even with a full season of film to study. As he prepares for his second year as the Green Bay Packers' starting quarterback, Love remains confident in his ability to adapt and overcome defensive adjustments.
Facing Defensive Adjustments
The Philadelphia Eagles and other teams will undoubtedly scrutinize Love's 19 starts from the previous season, leveraging their insights to craft strategies aimed at neutralizing his effectiveness. Love acknowledges that defenses will have a better understanding of what he and the Packers did well last year. Yet, he places immense faith in his coaching staff, believing they will position him and the team for success.
"We know going into this year teams are going to have a better feel of what we do, what we did good," Love said. "That's their job -- to try to figure out how to stop that. That's the fun part about the NFL."
The Packers' offensive staff, led by head coach Matt LaFleur and quarterbacks coach Tom Clements, is committed to ensuring Love is well-prepared for any defensive schemes thrown his way. "At the end of the day, we've got a very good coaching staff that's going to put us in the best position," Love stated. "We'll also be able to adjust to what defenses might be doing and taking away from us, and we'll learn on the fly."
Coaching and Development
Tom Clements brings a wealth of experience to the role of guiding Love's development. He is meticulously working on honing Love’s fundamental skills, which are crucial in countering defensive strategies. "It's just more fundamental things," Clements said. "Footwork and how he moves in the pocket, and we're working on the drills, working on throwing a lot of routes on air."
Under LaFleur's leadership, practices have been tailored to address Love's specific needs. LaFleur, despite previously not favoring the lack of game-like conditions, added a 7-on-7 period to offseason practices to simulate real-game scenarios. "What we're making a big emphasis on is [having] perfect feet," LaFleur noted. "Making sure the guys go through their progressions, having perfect feet. When they're not, they hear about it."
Performance Under Pressure
One area where Love struggled last season was handling pressure from opposing defenses. His tendency was to throw deep away from coverage, a strategy that, despite resulting in just one interception under pressure, still ranked him 27th and 26th among NFL quarterbacks in respective categories. To address this, Love has been diligently working on his pocket awareness and movements.
"The biggest thing for me is just staying poised in the pocket," Love said. "Being able to stay balanced in the pocket. Sometimes I get out of whack with my feet, and I might start drifting in the pocket too much. Just pocket awareness, making smaller moves and understanding when I've got to get out of there."
Adapting to Change
As the season progressed last year, Love demonstrated significant growth in his ability to make plays on the run. Initially, he often opted to take off and run when facing pressure. However, towards the latter half of the season, this tendency diminished as he began to look for downfield opportunities even while on the move.
"Early in the season, when Jordan scrambled, I'd say 95 percent of the time he ran the ball," Clements recalled. "Second half of the year, that maybe flipped -- maybe not 95 percent but a larger percentage he was moving around, looking to throw the ball downfield."
Clements emphasized the benefits of this shift in approach. "That's what you want to do because you can get a lot of big plays in the scramble phase of the game. Rather than just taking off and running, he's looking and trying to make a play, and that's where good things can happen."
Love’s progression and adaptability bode well for his second season as the Packers' starter. He remains focused on refining his skills and preparing for the challenges ahead. "Also throwing on the run, being able to escape the pocket and make those off-schedule plays is something I worked a good amount on," Love stated.
With a seasoned coaching staff and a commitment to ongoing improvement, Jordan Love is poised to build on his experiences from last season, aiming to lead the Packers to new heights. As the next chapter unfolds, fans and analysts alike will be watching closely to see how he and the team adjust to the evolving strategies of their opponents.