Interceptions are becoming a bigger issue for Jordan Love, so 'annoying' questions won't stop
Jordan Love had 11 interceptions all season in 2023. This year, he has had 10 in seven games. While his 3.7% turnover-worthy play rate entering the Detroit Lions game isn't particularly awful, it's certainly worse than the 2.6% rate he had in his first season as a full-time starter. And it's bigger than his 3.1% […]
Jordan Love had 11 interceptions all season in 2023. This year, he has had 10 in seven games. While his 3.7% turnover-worthy play rate entering the Detroit Lions game isn't particularly awful, it's certainly worse than the 2.6% rate he had in his first season as a full-time starter. And it's bigger than his 3.1% big-time throw rate. As the ratio gets worse, the interceptions for a gunslinger become a bigger problem.
"It's definitely disappointing putting the ball in jeopardy way too many times," Jordan Love said after the 24-14 loss to the Detroit Lions, in which he threw a pick-six. "Definitely something to clean up. I've talked about it week after week, so I have to learn from these mistakes and clean it up. But definitely something that I'm making a big focus on going forward to find ways to take care of the ball better."
Head coach Matt LaFleur is tired of answering the same questions week after week. And guess what, Love has thrown at least a pick in each of the seven games he played in 2024.
"I understand, but it's really annoying up here. He's fighting, he's competing," LaFleur said. "We know that we've got to take care of the football. But I don't question anything about what he's trying to do. We just gotta do it better."
How to improve
For Jordan Love, it's a fine line between doing what he's always done — being aggressive, hunting big plays —, while avoiding mistakes at the same time.
"Just comes down to staying true to my reads. If the plays do go out of schedule, just that fine line of being smart with the ball and not putting it in harm's way," Love added. "Balancing to try to make a play versus just throwing it away and live to fight another day. It just comes down to staying true to my reads, make great decisions."
For LaFleur, it's tough to make much of Love's interceptions because each play is different, and the coach knows how much the quarterback is trying to make the correct decisions.
"That's a fine line. It's a hard thing. You always teach them the rhythm of the play. When it goes off-schedule, you just gotta be smart with the football," LaFleur pointed out. "I know he's doing everything in his power to make a play, but sometimes… Again, I gotta go back and look at it before I have a good answer on that."
Going back to the loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs, Jordan Love has thrown at least one interception in each of his last eight games. Against a tough Chicago Bears defense, Jordan Love will have an intriguing challenge right after the bye week — and if he doesn't turn the ball over, the Packers will have taken a huge step towards winning their first divisional game of the season.
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