Jordan Love absolutely *cooked* for the Green Bay Packers, slinging three touchdowns when literally *nothing* else was working around him. This wasn’t some easy-mode win, folks. His running backs lugged the ball 25 times for a measly 48 yards, which is an eye-watering 1.9 yards per carry. One point nine! Love was the entire engine, the conductor, the whole damn train that kept that offense chugging along.
Love carved up the Carolina defense, going 30-for-41, hitting a staggering 73.2% of his throws for 288 yards. He dropped 3 TDs and only threw 1 INT, netting him a stellar 106.6 QB rating and a positive EPA per Dropback of +0.11. Think about that: carrying the load, making precise throws, and still keeping his efficiency sky-high. That’s serious playmaking when your ground game is basically non-existent.
Love Splits the Safeties for an Early Lead
Let’s dive into how he got it done. First TD, 3rd & 8 in the first quarter, 5:12 left. Packers roll out in 11 personnel: one running back, one tight end, three receivers. They start with a 2×2 look, but Christian Watson shifts left. That leaves Tucker Kraft as the lone receiver on the right, with Josh Jacobs in the backfield on the same side. Carolina’s Devin Lloyd bumps over with Watson, but nobody follows, screaming “zone coverage” to Love. The Panthers are showing two-high safeties, a Quarters look, before the snap.
Jacobs does this little shuffle motion at the snap, moving the defenders on the right just enough. Jacobs runs an out route, and Kraft sprints up the seam. Love’s eyes are glued to those safeties after the snap, checking if they rotate or if the middle stays wide open. They stay put, two-high. Kraft makes a subtle bend outside to get the safety leaning, then cuts back inside. The middle’s open, now Love just needs to make sure the linebacker isn’t dropping underneath. Bobby Okereke, who lined up like an edge rusher, actually drops back into zone coverage. Kraft is bending over the top, and Love can’t just stare it down. He plants his feet and shoulders pointed outside, then snaps them open and *fires* a bullet to the middle. With Okereke drifting outside and Kraft bending back in, Love absolutely splits those safeties for a huge score, making it 6-3. Talk about precision!
Going Right Back to Golden
Then there’s the second touchdown, 3rd & 13, late in the second quarter, just 1:51 on the clock. This play came immediately after Matthew Golden dropped a potential touchdown on a “Huggo” route. (They’re apparently 1-for-3 on those this year, ouch!) What does Love do? He goes *right back* to Golden on the very next snap.
The Packers are again in 11 personnel, this time a 3×1 set with Kraft as the single receiver on the right. They’re running a deep Smash variant, with Golden running a corner route from the #3 receiver spot. Carolina has a ton of defenders up at the line, which leaves a ton of open space in the deep coverage. There are two defenders deep over the outside receivers, and another deep safety over Golden, about 15 yards downfield. Golden, to his credit, looks back at Love a few steps off the line, probably checking for a hot throw. That’s good awareness from Golden. With no hot throw, Golden pushes vertically.
Love’s ability to pick up the slack, especially when the run game was just stuck in the mud, shows exactly why he’s the guy under center. He’s making those tough throws, reading defenses like a book, and trusting his receivers, even after a dropped pass. That’s the kind of leadership and talent that keeps an offense alive. He was the difference maker on a day when they desperately needed one.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Acme Packing Company.
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