Jordan Love and Packers preparing for potential blitz-heavy opponents
By Paul Bretl
With Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, the Green Bay Packers offense was never blitzed all that much. With Jordan Love, however, opposing defenses could be bringing pressure quite often, and the Packers are preparing for that accordingly this offseason.
The reason that Rodgers was not blitzed frequently was that he was very effective at finding the open pass catcher with the limited time he had. Even during a down 2022 season for Rodgers, when he was blitzed, he still completed 66% of his passes at 7.5 yards per attempt with eight touchdowns to just three interceptions, according to PFF ($$).
For a veteran quarterback like Rodgers, facing a blitz, to a degree, gives him the advantage because even though time may be limited, there is one less defender in coverage. Rodgers was excellent at diagnosing pre-snap whether there was going to be a blitz or not, along with where it was coming from. He also knew what his outlet options were if that was the case.
On the flip side, with a young quarterback, like Love, facing a blitz can be chaotic. And we saw that on display during his first career start in 2021 against Kansas City.
On short notice, Love learned he would be starting that Sunday and the Chiefs went completely off-script, playing a heavy dose of cover-0 and sending multiple defenders. Not only Love but also Matt LaFleur and the Packers offense as a whole were not prepared for that blitz-heavy approach. Love would complete 19-of-34 passes at just 5.6 yards per attempt with one touchdown and one interception.
The preparation for Love and the offense to handle these blitz packages begins this summer, where practices will be altered by having blitz-specific periods and Joe Barry having the green light to send a defender or two during regular move-the-ball drills.
"“Typically, if you handle pressure well, you don’t see it as much, so it’s going to be one thing we are going to emphasize in the offseason,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich told reporters on Tuesday via Packers.com. “Blitz periods and things like that where we can get pressure on us, know how to pick things up, know how to handle stuff. The good news is we have a lot of experience on the offensive line; our backs are very experienced, so I’m pretty confident we will be able to handle things like that–the pressure.”"
As Stenavich said, if the Packers want to reduce the number of blitzes that they are going to see each week, they need to prove and put on tape that they can handle it. This not only means Love diagnosing the blitz pre-snap and knowing where to go with the ball, but the receivers need to recognize this as well and position themselves correctly.
The offensive line then being able to pick up that extra defender while also cleanly passing off their blocking responsibility on the defensive front to another lineman is a must as well. Dealing with blitzes, stunts, and twists was something that did give the Packers’ offensive line some struggles in 2022, particularly early on when they were dealing with injuries and a lot of movement. Once healthy, this unit – and subsequently, the rest of the offense – played much better. Green Bay is returning an experienced core and will have some competition as well during the summer. Any success that Love is going to have, whether against the blitz or otherwise, begins with the play up front.
Along with the offensive line, running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon will play important roles as blockers out of the backfield, picking up any stray blitzers that break through the line of scrimmage. This is an aspect of the running back position that both have been very willing and capable in.
By all accounts, and what we saw in Philadelphia last season, Love has made huge strides since that start in Kansas City. However, he is still a first-time starting quarterback and defensive coordinators are going to figure out what he can and can’t handle. That means there will likely be a lot of blitzing and potentially pre-snap movement from the defense as well to change the look for Love at the last second. It’ll be up to Love, along with LaFleur and everyone else associated with the offense, to show that they can handle and potentially even take advantage of opposing defenses when they send an extra defender.