Jordan Love acknowledges Packers ‘very frustrated’ after second straight loss ends on his interception
DENVER – For a moment, Samori Toure thought he was watching the game-winning pass descend to him. It was third-and-20, season on the line, and the Green Bay Packers receiver had touchdown on his mind. At the very least, Toure knew it would be a first down.
From the sideline, coach Matt LaFleur had reached into his list of last-ditch chunk plays, an aggressive assortment designed to bail his offense out of long-yardage situations when the game depended on it. Two Denver Broncos safeties dropped deep. The Packers had three receivers on the left. To Toure’s inside, rookie tight end Tucker Kraft ran 10 yards to the middle of the field and stopped, giving Jordan Love an option to play for fourth down. Outside, rookie receiver Jayden Reed was running a 20-yard over route.
Toure was sprinting a straight line toward the end zone, running across the field. Running, he thought, toward a win.
“We dialed up a play,” Love said, “that’s made for that coverage.”
Reed’s over route was expected to draw one safety’s attention. As Toure ran down the middle of the field, he felt single coverage with Broncos safety Justin Simmons. It was a mismatch, a receiver taking a safety deep, and as Simmons started spinning around and stumbling to keep track, Toure thought points. The Packers trailed by 2 inside the 2-minute warning Sunday. All they needed was a field goal.
Love saw the Broncos double Kraft in the middle of the field, taking away his closest target. He didn’t see Broncos safety P.J. Locke drop deep to the middle of the field. Locke sprinted for Toure, disregarding Reed’s over route. Love’s pass launched more than 40 yards downfield, aimed inside his receiver, where Toure could shield Simmons. His target brought the football closer to Locke, who closed for a game-clinching interception, handing the Packers a 19-17 loss.
Toure watched the Broncos celebrate only their second victory of the season, stunned how it happened.
“I felt like it was there just because it was just 31 (Simmons) on me,” Toure said as he walked out of the visitors locker room inside Empower Field at Mile High. “He had his back to the ball, so I kind of ran by, turned around, saw the ball coming. I was waiting on it, and whoever it was, 6 (Locke), just came in out of nowhere and took it.
“I was pretty surprised. I felt like maybe someone would be coming, because it was just me and 31. We have an over route from the outside that technically, I would have felt like, would hold that safety. But I’ve got to see the film. I’m not sure where he came from.”
There weren’t many more answers Toure could provide without seeing film of the deciding play. He acknowledged Love’s pass had quite a bit of hang time, allowing Locke to float over to the football, but the play’s key elements happened behind the receiver’s back.
Love should have seen the fatal flaw in LaFleur’s concept unfold, but didn’t. He released the football without noticing Locke drifting over to the play side, Love said. With the game on the line, Love lacked the encompassing vision required of quarterbacks, especially when everything is riding on one throw.
“I was surprised he was able to make a play,” Love said. “Because I didn’t see him. I was kind of keying the safety that was on the back side, who didn’t make the play. But it’s a play I’ve got to learn from.”
Six games into his career, Love has plenty of film he needs to learn from. Sunday’s loss indicated it will take some time. The Packers’ last game, against the Las Vegas Raiders, ended similarly when Love had the option to extend the action by running and getting closer to the end zone on a potential winning drive. He instead put the game on one throw, targeting Christian Watson in the end zone.
The loss was sealed when Love’s pass was intercepted.
He faced a similar decision against the Broncos. The Packers were driving late in the fourth quarter, building momentum. They crossed midfield when Love recognized the easy route, dropping off a pass at the line of scrimmage to running back AJ Dillon, who crossed midfield for 29 yards. That’s when momentum stopped. On the next play, Love took off for 4 yards on what appeared to be a designed quarterback draw, but left guard Elgton Jenkins was penalized for holding.
Jenkins said he was surprised at the call, but at his locker offered no opinion on the official’s decision, instead wanting to watch the play on film.
Love’s next pass was incomplete to Watson, who was injured on the play. That set up third-and-20 and the interception. As Love reared to throw, he had Dillon open in the left flat for a completion that – with the Broncos defense dropped deep – would have at least set up fourth-and-manageable.
He instead put the game on one throw again.
“For the most part,” LaFleur said, “I thought he was making pretty good decisions. I put that last one on me in terms of just probably should have called a safer play where you get half of it, and you try to set yourself up for a manageable situation on the next down. We took a shot, and obviously didn’t come through.”
LaFleur said he needed to see the film before knowing if Love could have progressed to Dillon in his reads. It’s something that takes time for young quarterbacks to master, quickly rolling through progressions. But the Packers are running out of time to correct their offense, and their struggling quarterback, this season.
The Broncos were supposed to be the opponent to do that, the NFL’s last-ranked defense in yards and points, a soft place to land. Instead, their free fall continued Sunday, three straight losses now. The Packers have so far failed to take advantage of the soft spot in their schedule. During the offseason, Love said he was aware his first season as a starter wouldn’t be perfect, that there would be hard times.
They’ve found one now with two straight winnable games ending on his interceptions.
“We all know it’s ups and downs,” Love said, “but I think everyone’s very frustrated. We’ve got to find a way to win. Got to find a way to win these games. We’ve been put in this position multiple times where it comes down to offense has to go win the game, and we have not capitalized on that.
“So we’ve got to find a way, just that margin of error, and we are not capitalizing on these end-of-game situations. I think going forward, I think the situations are going to keep coming, keep being there until we find a way to capitalize and go win.”