Head coach Matt LaFleur has been a big part of Jordan Love’s development as a quarterback. Since entering the league in 2020, Love has become more and more of a high-level passer, operating the pocket with an impressive competence.
However, sometimes, the natural ability of the player is what truly matters. Asked about Love’s insane throw to Christian Watson against the Detroit Lions last Thursday, LaFleur joked that Love made the coaches look really good.
“That was great coaching, wasn’t it? Tom (Clements) was PFF coach of the week for that one,” LaFleur jokingly said. “There are some things that happen. Certainly, a lot of your drills, you try to emulate game-like action. I don’t know if we get a drill for that one. Having the guy running free up the middle, avoiding him, doing a 360° or whatever he did in the pocket to escape that. That was pretty special.”
Despite the joke, LaFleur talked about the type of work the coaching staff tries to do to prepare the quarterbacks for these situations. Ultimately, though, Jordan Love has to have a special ability to make it happen on the field.
“I do think in drill work we try to do things to move the quarterback, get him off the spot, and then make him react to something where he has to regain his balance, become a passer again, and then make a throw down the field, ” LaFleur added. “But that was an elite-level play, and that’s why you pay him the big bucks.”
Against the Lions, even though the Packers had a slow start and lost the game, Love had his best individual performance of the season. He finished the game with an impressive 8.7% big-time throw rate, no turnover-worthy plays, and a 9.9 yards in average depth of target. If he can keep this high level of play through the rest of the season, the Packers might finally reach their offensive ceiling.