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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterSep 29, 2024, 07:29 PM ET
- Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the NSSA. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobDemovsky.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jordan Love was on the wrong end of a 28-0 score in the second quarter of his return from a two-game absence for a knee injury when a Minnesota Vikings defender fell on the back on his braced left knee.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback came up limping, but he never considered coming out of the game and coach Matt LaFleur never thought about going back to Malik Willis.
Love then nearly rallied the Packers to an improbable comeback, only to lose 31-29 on Sunday at Lambeau Field. After a career-high 51 pass attempts, he had his first career four-touchdown game and his second game with three interceptions.
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He said he’s still dealing with some issues related to the sprained left MCL he sustained in the season opener and admitted his throwing inaccuracy early was part of the reason why the Packers fell behind.
“I hope it’ll continue to heal and get better, but at this moment, yeah, it’s definitely something that’s there,” Love said. “And it’s one of those things, it’s football. We play a physical sport and there’s injuries, and you gotta fight through some stuff.”
While Love threw for a career-high 389 yards, his accuracy was off. He completed just 8 of 23 passes on throws of more than 10 yards in the air — with all three of his interceptions coming on such throws. His 35% completion rate on those throws was the lowest in a game of his career, according to ESPN Research.
The Vikings, playing a pressure defense under coordinator Brian Flores, blitzed Love on 25 of his 56 dropbacks. He threw 24 passes against blitzes, the most he has attempted in his career.
While the Packers dropped five passes (three by Dontayvion Wicks and one each by Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed), Love put some of the blame on himself.
“Just wasn’t playing well enough,” Love said. “I think ball placement was a little all over the place today, kinda throughout the whole game. I think it picked up later, but yeah, I think early on, just missed a couple throws and was a little bit off. Made it hard on some of the receivers on some of those plays.”
Packers QB Jordan Love set career-highs with 389 yards, 51 pass attempts and four TDs while tying a career mark with three interceptions in a 31-29 loss to the Vikings on Sunday. Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire
LaFleur said he thought Love and the offense found a rhythm eventually. Reed caught seven passes for 139 yards and a touchdown, while Wicks finished with five catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns on 13 targets.
“It seemed to me that he looked more and more comfortable,” LaFleur said of Love. “We made more explosive plays, which is tough to do when a team is sitting back in 2-shell. But I think there is a lot of good lessons that come out of every game.”
The Packers did not get on the board until the final minute of the first half — and even that proved difficult. LaFleur drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for being demonstrative when the officials didn’t initially grant him a timeout — a move LaFleur said he was “absolutely embarrassed” about. On the very next play, however, Love hit Reed for a 16-yard touchdown with 15 seconds left in the second quarter.
“I don’t think we envisioned throwing the ball 50 times; that’s never the plan going into any game,” LaFleur said. “Usually, if you’re in a game like that, it’s probably not going your way.”
At 2-2 and trailing the unbeaten Vikings (4-0) in the NFC North, the Packers still came away encouraged by their 22-point fourth quarter and by Love’s return.
“You never feel like you’re out the game with him,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “You always feel like he’s one throw away from a big play, one special play away from a big play. I think that’s one of the biggest things that excites me most, is you got guys in this room who are willing to put it all out on the line.
“We’ve got to fix a lot of things that we did, but I think we’ll be all right.”
