The Jacksonville Jaguars’ historically terrible pass defense should provide ample opportunities for the Green Bay Packers’ big-play passing game.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love has 15 touchdown passes and eight interceptions this season. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin-Imagn Images
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The quarterback gets too much credit when the team wins and too much blame when it loses. It takes all 11. You’ve heard the cliches, but the Green Bay Packers’ hopes against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday will hinge on the play of Jordan Love.
Love has made a bunch of plays. He is tied for second in the NFL with 15 touchdown passes but first in touchdown percentage. He’s also tied for last in the NFL with eight interceptions and is fourth-to-last in interception percentage.
Love’s aggressive play needs to be toned down a bit, like he did down the stretch last year, but Jaguars coach Doug Pederson appreciates Love’s mentality.
“I love that attitude, quite frankly, from your quarterback,” Pederson told reporters in Jacksonville on Friday. “We do the same thing with our guy, with Trevor (Lawrence). We encourage him to test it and to see, especially during the week of preparation and week of practice, see what you can get away with as a throw.”
Before becoming a Super Bowl-winning coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, Pederson was an NFL quarterback for 10 seasons. For seven of those seasons, he was Brett Favre’s backup in Green Bay. Favre, of course, pushed the envelope perhaps more than any quarterback in the modern era.
“I played with a guy that cut it loose quite a bit. Obviously, Jordan sat behind a guy that did the same thing for a little while (with Aaron Rodgers),” Pederson continued. “So, if you’re a defensive guy, I think you have to read into it that every throw in the book is open and available. You have to be prepared, you’ve got to be in the right spot, you’ve got to be disciplined.
“Is he going to make a mistake from time to time? He will. That’s just the aggressive nature of how he plays, and that’s OK because they’ve been able to overcome that. But you’ve just got to stay disciplined as a defense and trust your instinct and be prepared.”
Jacksonville’s pass defense is terrible. The Jaguars aren’t just last in the NFL in opponent passer rating this season, this would be the second-worst opponent passer rating in NFL history. They are last in the league in touchdown passes allowed (16) and interceptions (one), which is quite a combination.
Because of Love’s aggressive nature, Green Bay is second with 25 completions of 20-plus yards. Jacksonville is second-to-last with 30 completions of 20-plus yards allowed.
The Jaguars have a good quarterback with Lawrence and a tremendous group of pass-catchers with Brian Thomas Jr., Christian Kirk and tight end Evan Engram. Running back Tank Bigsby is having an incredible season. The run defense is solid.
The Packers are going to have to score points, and they’re going to have to score points through the air. It will be up to Love to make the plays necessary to win the game while avoiding the mistakes that could lose it.
Of course, it will take all 11. The offensive line, which held up well against Houston’s powerful front last week, must deal with defensive ends Travon Walker (six sacks this year) and Josh Hines-Allen (17.5 sacks last year).
And the receivers must do their thing. Only the Saints have given up more yards after the catch than the Jaguars.
But it will start with Love. Last year, he had 10 interceptions through nine games but finished with 18 touchdowns and one interception in the final eight games. So, Love has the track record to work his way through the mistakes.
“One interception is too many,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “Anytime you’re giving the ball to the defense, that’s not good, that’s not a winning formula. We’ve been able to overcome them, especially last game, but, yeah, you never want to turn the ball over.
“So, we’ve just got to learn from those mistakes, learn from those decisions and just keep improving. The one thing I do like that Jordan’s doing is he’s not letting those plays turn into more bad plays, in terms of just affecting his decision-making. He’s still aggressive, he’s still reading defenses and doing a good job there, and he’s making some pretty impressive throws. We’ve just got to keep learning and keep improving every week and, hopefully, those mistakes go away.”
