Packers have budding star connection in Jordan Love and Christian Watson
A lot of people were wondering how Jordan Love would perform in front of more than 65,000 Green Bay Packers fans during Packers Family Night and the first-year starter answered with a solid performance. Per Packer Central's Bill Huber, Love finished the night 11-of-19 passing with three touchdowns through the air. The final numbers came […]
A lot of people were wondering how Jordan Love would perform in front of more than 65,000 Green Bay Packers fans during Packers Family Night and the first-year starter answered with a solid performance.
Per Packer Central's Bill Huber, Love finished the night 11-of-19 passing with three touchdowns through the air. The final numbers came after a 1-of-5 start, so Love completed 10-of-14 throws (71.4%), including the three touchdowns, once he got rolling.
There were a couple of throws that really stood out and one was the final pass that ended up as a highlight-reel worthy touchdown pass to Christian Watson in the front right corner of the end zone. These two have flashed multiple times throughout camp, so it was awesome to see that connection come through in what was, yes, another practice. But Packers Family Night isn't obviously a typical practice.
The throw happens at the :21 mark in the video, below. But the whole video is worth the watch, in its entirety.
Love shows major improvement in situational football drills
The key to Love's night, however, was his play on third downs, in the red zone, and during the two-minute drill. The Packers offense, as a whole, had struggled in those areas before Saturday night and frustrations were starting to mount.
It was a different scene during Family Night, however, as the offense stepped it up – with Love leading the way.
Up next was a red-zone period. Love was 2-of-4 with touchdowns to Aaron Jones on an extended play and to Jayden Reed, who got wide open over the middle. One of the incompletions appeared to have been caught by Reed.
Love was 5-for-7 the next two periods. Critically, that includes four third-down conversions: two to Doubs and one each to Reed and running back Tyler Goodson…
… Love needed only about half the time [during the two-minute drill]. First, he found tight end Luke Musgrave running wide open on a crossing route. Including 11 yards after the catch, the play gained 30. Next, with premier cornerback Jaire Alexander getting the rest of the night off, Love zeroed in on Christian Watson going against backup Corey Ballentine. First, it was Love to Watson for 20 yards to the 25. After a 4-yard run by Aaron Jones, Love went deep to Watson, who won a jump ball over Ballentine in the end zone for the “winning” touchdown. It was a perfect throw and a big-time play by Watson. – Bill Huber, Packer Central
Learning how to play well in situational football is crucial to winning in the NFL. The teams that excel on third down, in the red zone, and in two-minute situations (hell, even four-minute situations) are typically the ones pushing for a Lombardi in January and February. The margin for error is so thin in this game – the teams that figure out how to play their best when it matters will always be in the mix.
Love and co. have been inconsistent, so far, throughout camp. So, it'll be interesting to see how the offense builds off of Saturday's night performance when they hit the practice field on Monday.
As we all figured, it's been a work in progress and it's likely to stay that way for the whole season, pretty much. But as long as we see some kind of concrete progress that also projects well for the future – then all should be well, soon enough.
h/t Green Bay Packers Twitter account (@packers)
Jordan Love pulls off Patrick Mahomes-like play during Packers Family Night
The Packers offense pulled off some nice plays on Saturday night and Love’s throw was certainly one of them.
Featured image via Green Bay Packers Twitter (@packers)
