Taking a look beyond the numbers for Jordan Love in 2024.
There has been a lot of chatter lately about Jordan Love taking a step back last season.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport even quizzed Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur on this very topic.
At first glance, when you look at the statistics, you can see where that idea comes from.
Jordan Love in 2023
- 17 games
- 4,159 yards (244.6 Yards Per Game)
- 32 touchdowns, 11 Interceptions
- 64.2% completion
- 7.1 Yards Per Attempt
- 96.1 passer rating
Jordan Love in 2024
- 15 games
- 3,389 yards (225.9 Yards Per Game)
- 25 touchdowns, 11 Interceptions
- 63.1% completion
- 8.0 Yards Per Attempt
- 96.7 passer rating
The numbers are close. Too close, really, to cry regression. But stats do not always capture the full picture, especially when the ending of 2023 was as electric as it was.
The bar might have been set too high
Let us not forget how Jordan Love finished that 2023 season. Over his final eight games, he was on an absolute tear:
- 2,294 yards
- 21 touchdowns
- Three interceptions
- 70.1% completion
- 112.5 passer rating
And then came that Wild Card performance in Dallas. 272 yards, three touchdowns, 157.2 passer rating. One of the best playoff debuts we have seen in years.
That kind of form naturally raised expectations. But asking a second year starting quarterback to maintain that level – through injuries and a brutal schedule – is a tall order.
Injuries that did not go away
Love sprained his MCL in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil. The ACL was thankfully intact, but a sprained knee is no joke for a quarterback.
He missed Weeks 2 and 3, came back for Week 4, and nearly led a heroic comeback against the Minnesota Vikings. But it was clear – he was not quite right. He did not look comfortable setting his feet.
The mobility was off. The timing, too. And then, just as he was settling into rhythm, he injured his groin in Week 8 against the Jacksonville Jaguars and missed the second half.
He did not look himself in Week 9 either. The Detroit Lions game? Sluggish. One of his worst outings of the year – and probably not a coincidence, even if it was against a very good Lions defence.
The criticisms are fair… to a point
Yes, the interceptions were a problem. He was tied for the league lead for a chunk of the year and had a nasty habit of throwing them in high-leverage spots.
He tossed three more in the wild card game against the Philadelphia Eagles, ending the season on a sour note.
According to PFF, he had 13 turnover-worthy plays. That is not catastrophic, but it is not nothing either.
Red zone efficiency also took a dip. The Packers had big-play juice, but when the field shrunk, Love did not always make the right reads.
And on true dropbacks – no play-action, no screens, no run-pass option – Love completed just 57.7% of his passes with a 77.6 passer rating. That is where top quarterbacks separate themselves – Love was not quite there.
Love is not solely to blame, however. The drops were brutal, 26 of his 458 pass attempts were dropped.
An 8.3% drop rate was second worst in the league for quarterbacks with 400+ dropbacks. And they were not just inconvenient, they were costly.
Those drops cost him 28.2 expected points added on third and fourth down. That is the most EPA lost due to drops by any quarterback since 2020.
The good stuff
Now for the flip side. On early downs, when offenses can dictate the game, Love was among the league’s best:
- #4 in Yards Per Attempt
- #5 in EPA/Attempt
- #8 in success rate
That is not average. That is very good quarterbacking.
And for the second year in a row, Love helped drag a young team to the postseason. That still matters.
So, did he regress?
Honestly, no. Not in any meaningful way.
Was he inconsistent? Yes. Did he look as sharp as he did in late 2023? Not really.
But a guy playing through injury, with a shaky wide receiver situation and a high drop rate, still put up solid numbers and made the playoffs.
That is not a step backward. That is surviving a sophomore test and still passing.
There is plenty of room for Jordan Love to grow. But he is not a question mark. He is a starter. And if he stays healthy in 2025, he has got a real shot at making the leap everyone hoped to see last year.
