Don't you dare tell Matt LaFleur that Jordan Love has already regressed.
There's no getting around the fact that Jordan Love had a lot of pressure put on him when he took over as the Green Bay Packers' starting quarterback in 2023.
After all, the Packers had just two regular starting signal-callers over the previous three-plus decades in Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, who won seven MVPs and two Super Bowls between them and are widely considered two of the top 10 quarterbacks in NFL history. That's a lot to live up to, wouldn't you say?
Nevertheless, Love came in and helped guide the youngest team in the league to an unexpected playoff berth in that '23 campaign, completing 64.2% of his passes for 4,159 yards with 32 touchdowns against 11 interceptions in the process.
He then put on a record-setting performance in the Packers' rout of the Dallas Cowboys in the opening round of the postseason and then gave the eventual NFC champion San Francisco 49ers all they could handle in a three-point loss in the Divisional Round.
Now, did he (and the team as a whole) have as much success in 2024? No. But head coach Matt LaFleur seems ready to fight anyone who suggests his quarterback has already regressed.
Matt LaFleur wants no part of the "narrative" that Jordan Love took a step back last season
During Packers OTAs, LaFleur had no problem clapping back at those knocking Love for having lesser numbers this past season, initially citing the obvious component that the Utah State product missed some time due to injury.
"I think there's like a narrative out there for whatever reason that he wasn't as productive as the year before," LaFleur said, via The Athletic. "Well, he missed significant time. He missed the better of three games."
"Really, it was Indy. It was Tennessee. He went out in Jacksonville, and then he went out in Chicago. So, you know, three games is a significant amount of time and you're not going to produce as much from a numbers perspective ... and also, let's be honest -- we've talked about this -- we did have a lot of drops last year."
"So there's other circumstances that play into it. I think all in all, everybody's going to be better, though."
LaFleur is certainly correct on the drops, as Green Bay pass-catchers failed to hang onto 26 of Love's 458 attempts between the regular season and the Packers' playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. That 8.3% drop rate ranked second among all NFL QBs with at least 400 dropbacks. Oddly enough, only Aaron Rodgers had it worse at 9.6% with the New York Jets.
All in all, Love ended the 2024 regular season having completed 63.1% of his throws for 3,389 yards with 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Again, those obviously are lesser numbers than what he put up in 2023. That said, however, he had both a higher passer rating (96.7 to 96.1) and QBR (69.3 to 62.1) in 2024 compared to the year before. Sure, those stats can be misleading at times, but they still prove that he fared just fine.
And let's certainly not forget the fact that the Packers had a much more dominant running game last year with Josh Jacobs in the backfield. As such, Love simply wasn't asked to do as much, making 28.3 pass attempts per game in 2024 compared to 34.1 per game in 2023. That adds up, folks.
Like LaFleur, Love himself dismissed the notion of regression.
"I mean, what is a step back is what I'd ask," Love said. "You know what I mean? Everybody has different opinions, things like that. You gotta block that stuff out. It's all about the goals of the team at the end of the day. I'd say we won more games than we did the year before. That's why I ask people, what is a step back?"
"Like I said, everybody has opinions, things like that. Try to block that out and focus on doing me and being the best player I can be, like I've talked about, and go forward. But at the end of the day, personal stats, things like that, that's all in the back. You gotta focus on the goals of the team, first and foremost."
The pressure will still be there for Love in 2025, especially now that the Packers have ended a 23-year streak of not selecting a wide receiver in the first round of the draft by taking Texas standout Matthew Golden at No. 23 overall.
But the 26-year-old clearly believes in himself and his ability to lead this team to a title. And it's evident that LaFleur has that faith in his quarterback as well.
