The biggest concern for the Green Bay Packers after an ugly 35-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons is a complete lack of protection for Jordan Love. The quarterback was rattled early on and never settled in throwing an interception on the final offensive play of the night for the Packers. Love would finish 28/53 for 312 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns. While the completion percentage is far from elite the overall numbers are far from how awful the actual result was.
Early in the game Love struggled to settle in and was missing open receivers at a rate fans aren't used to seeing. The home crowd was understandably restless and offered very little patience with a team that was expected to put a far better product on the field. It is understandable when you consider both Love's extension and the belief the quarterback can be among the league's top options.
No question, this was an ugly game for the Green Bay offense and Love simply was never able to settle in. It wasn't just missing open receivers but putting the ball in harm's way more often than the lone interception indicates and simply not being the stabililzing force the Packers so badly needed.
It is fair to blame this on the offensive line with much being made of how Love performs in a clean pocket in comparison to when teams can turn up the heat. While the sack numbers weren't impressive they don't tell the story of just how much pressure Love was dealing with consistently being pushed around the pocket and hurried.
Packers Offensive Line Issues Causing Real Concern Around Jordan Love's Future Performance
The issue for Green Bay is a lack of reason to believe things are going to improve with the offensive line being a difficult answer to find once the season has already started. It isn't as if you're not already starting who you believe your best options to be or that you can simply find options off the street capable of making a roster push.
Green Bay is seemingly stuck without a clear way to improve an area of struggle and this sets up Love for continued struggles. For the Packers, it will be interesting to see how the next week is handled as the franchise deals with an ugly loss that was far from expected against a team that was 0-2 and had appeared completely incapable going into Green Bay and offering anything close to a viable effort.
For the Packers, it is simply a question of whether or not this is a sign of things to come or if Matt LaFleur is going to figure things out enough offensively to allow Love to settle in and find some level of balance to offset what is a leaky offensive line with very clear concerns.
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