Pass wacky in the red zone… Why abandon the run?

It’s important to remember that even the coaching staff is still evaluating Love. Commentators mentioned in Sunday’s game that MLF had some specific conversations with Love about being more decisive even if he makes the wrong decision! That decisive factor was one of the things that bothered me about him for the first half of the season. He seemed to either mentally pick a receiver to target before the ball was snapped, and thus telegraph the throw, which leads to interceptions, or wait entirely too long and fail because the pocket collapsed around him. On Sunday I was much happier with his ability to make a decision and go with it, even if it was wrong. So clearly he’s teachable, and that’s important!

It’s especially important because there are still things he needs to learn. Ball placement is still an issue. As well as fundamentals of mechanics. There were a couple times on Sunday where Mark Sanchez pointed out the flaws in Love’s footwork and body posture when making throws. From what I’ve seen, Love doesn’t have a Rodgers/Mahomes arm, where he can sling it side-arm off balance and still make it go where he wants. Hell, sometimes he has good mechanics and it still doesn’t go where he wants.

I was encouraged by Sunday’s results, but partially that has to do with the maturing of the receivers. That group looks like they are finally starting to gel. It’s the gelling of that talent that a lot people were high about before the season started, and with good reason. There is a tremendous upside with this group. Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks have the athletic talent and speed to be upper echelon WRs. If Love can build chemistry with those two young guys and Christian Watson, they will be a tough matchup for any defense.

I think this Thanksgiving game in Detroit is going to be a great test: short week, national audience, a really tough Lions defense, if they can win this game, even if it’s ugly, Love will go a long way to silencing my concerns. I sincerely hope he does! If Love can make consistent and measurable progress every week, he’ll have earned the right to another year to prove he can be “the guy.”

https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2023/10/31/23940949/green-bay-packers-trade-rasul-douglas-brian-gutekunst-job-security

Here’s another article that specifically calls out this trade as being a move the GM could only make if they knew they had job security. It actually says “mulligan season,” like the entire front office never thought they’d be above 500 anyway.