Jordan Love isn't overly concerned about how teams will defend him this year, even with a full season of film to study. It’s not that Love doesn’t anticipate teams countering what made him successful last season. He and his coaches have their own designs on where he can take his game as he enters Year 2 as the starter.
Facing Defensive Adjustments
The Philadelphia Eagles and other teams will undoubtedly study Love's 19 starts from the previous season. Love recognizes that defenses will have a better understanding of what he and the Packers did well last year. However, he has faith in his coaching staff, which he believes will put him and the team in the best possible positions to succeed.
Coaching and Development
Tom Clements is well-equipped to help Love hone the skills needed to combat defensive strategies. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has also made adjustments in practice to aid Love’s development. LaFleur added a 7-on-7 period to offseason practices, despite previously disliking it due to the lack of game-like conditions. Clements and the Packers' offensive staff have taken significant time to anticipate what defenses might try to do to defend Love better.
Performance Under Pressure
Last season, Love struggled somewhat when pressured. His performance metrics in these situations ranked 27th and 26th among NFL quarterbacks, respectively. Love's tendency was to throw deep away from coverage, a strategy that fortuitously resulted in only one interception when under pressure. This offseason, 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."
Tom Clements reiterated the importance of this development. "Footwork and how he moves in the pocket, we’re working on the drills, working on throwing a lot of routes on air," Clements commented. "What we're making a big emphasis on is [having] perfect feet," added LaFleur. "Making sure the guys go through their progressions, having perfect feet. When they're not, they hear about it."
Adapting to Change
Love has shown significant growth in his ability to adapt and make plays on the run. "Sometimes I get out of whack with my feet, and I might start drifting in the pocket too much," Love noted. "Just pocket awareness, making smaller moves, and understanding when I've got to get out of there."
Clements observed some of that development late last season. "Early in the season, when Jordan scrambled, I'd say 95 percent of the time he ran the ball," Clements recalled. "The 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."
"That's what you want to do because you can get a lot of big plays in the scramble phase of the game," Clements explained. "Rather than just taking off and running, he's looking and trying to make a play, and that's where good things can happen."
Aligned for Success
As Jordan Love enters his second year as the starting quarterback for the Packers, he remains focused on refining his skills and preparing for the defensive adjustments that are sure to come. "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." Love's confidence in his coaching staff remains steadfast. "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."
With the support of a seasoned coaching staff and a commitment to continual improvement, Love is poised to build on his experiences from last season and lead the Packers to new heights. "It's just more fundamental things," Clements said, emphasizing the importance of basic skills. "Disguising a little bit more, making it more difficult to see where to go. If that happens, you have to have a lot of film study and be able to react."
LaFleur, Clements, and the entire Packers' coaching staff are heavily invested in Love’s development, making continuous adjustments to keep the young quarterback evolving. "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.
Love’s trajectory indicates a promising future as he works tirelessly to adapt and improve. With a full season behind him, the upcoming challenges will test his resilience and his capacity to make smarter, quicker decisions under pressure. Packers fans have every reason to be optimistic as Love prepares to lead the team with a deeper understanding of the game and greater confidence in his abilities.