Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love was not at his best and was missing his usual starting center during their game. This proved to be a problem in the Packers’ 24-14 defeat to the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
After suffering a groin strain the week before, which caused him to leave the game against Jacksonville, Love managed to return just in time to play against the NFC North-leading Lions.
However, he wasn’t as sharp as he usually is and threw a critical pick-six in the last minute of the second quarter that allowed Detroit (7-1) to take control.
Love insisted after the game that the injury did not affect his performance. “No, I felt fine,” Love said. He completed 23 of 39 passes for 273 yards but did not throw any touchdown passes. Several of his receivers dropped passes on a rainy day.
The biggest mistake by Love occurred right before halftime. The Packers (6-3) were down 10-3 and had a second-and-2 situation from their own 38 when Love, under pressure, rolled to his right.
He threw a short pass intended for Josh Jacobs, but Lions safety Kerby Joseph intercepted it and ran 27 yards for a touchdown with 32 seconds left before halftime.
Love mentioned that he did not see Joseph when he made the throw.
“I saw (Jacobs) trying to get out and was trying to dump it down,” Love said. “It was a check-down to him, and the ball did not go where I wanted it to. They made a good play on it.”
This season, Love has thrown 10 interceptions on 240 attempts. Last season, as a first-year starter, he had 11 interceptions on 579 attempts.
“He’s fighting, he’s competing and we know that we’ve got to take care of the football,” said Packers coach Matt LaFleur. “But I don’t question anything about what he’s trying to do. We’ve just got to do it better.”
The Packers fell behind 24-3 and struggled with several bad snaps as they tried to come back. Elgton Jenkins, usually the starting left guard, had to play center because Josh Myers was out with a wrist injury.
In the third quarter, when the Packers faced second-and-10 at Detroit’s 14-yard line, Love fumbled two snaps in a row. The Packers recovered both fumbles but had to settle for a 38-yard field goal by Brandon McManus.
Love also fumbled a snap early in the fourth quarter after reaching the Detroit 36. That drive ended when Jacobs was stopped on fourth-and-1 from the 9-yard line.
“There’s a lot of things we’ve got to clean up,” Love said. “The fumbled snaps come down to the ball being wet, rainy, and we’ve got to do a better job with the exchange between me and Elgton. It happened one too many times for sure. And then the drops, it’s about making plays when conditions aren’t perfect. Obviously, it was wet, and there were too many drops.”
Romeo Doubs, who caught four passes on five targets for 28 yards, admitted that the receivers needed to help Love more. “Catching footballs in the rain is not ideal for a receiver, but it’s not an excuse for us all,” Doubs said.
“We will let this be a learning experience and get better by watching the film, adjusting to whatever weather we have coming up for the rest of this month and the rest of the year.”
The Packers have many things to improve as they head into their bye week. They gained more yards than the Lions, 411 to 261, but couldn’t finish drives. In their four trips to the red zone, they scored two field goals and one touchdown.
Green Bay is competing for playoff spots with every team in the NFC North, which seems to be the toughest division in football. Detroit and Minnesota both won at Lambeau Field, and the Packers will have to play both teams on the road.
They also need to face division rival Chicago twice. For the Packers to make a strong finish like last season, Love needs to stay healthy and cut down on his mistakes.
“It’s definitely disappointing,” Love said. “I’m putting the ball in jeopardy way too many times, and that’s definitely something I have to clean up.”
