Former NFL QB Dan Orlovsky has a critical message for Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers regarding Jordan Love: unleash the offense, even if it means risk.
Take one look at the numbers and you'd see that Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love has had a pretty good season.
Love, in his sixth NFL season, has thrown for 2,247 yards and 13 touchdowns compared to just three interceptions. He has a QBR of 68.7, which is seventh best in the NFL, and his passer rating of 103.0 is Top 10 amongst all NFL quarterbacks.
And yet, especially after these last two games, it feels like Love is just not good enough. The Packers have scored just 20 points over two games, including only 10 against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, and as the leader of the offense alongside head coach and play-caller Matt LaFleur, much of the blame has fallen at Love's feet.
And yes, he deserves it, because the numbers have been far from inspiring. In the losses to the Carolina Panthers and Eagles combined, Love completed just 46-of-73 passes (63%) for 449 total yards and no touchdowns with an interception.
It's been lackluster, and according to former NFL quarterback turned ESPN talking head, Dan Orlovsky, half of Love's problem is that he's been unwilling to just sling the ball.
In fact, Orlovsky relayed that if he were advising LaFleur, he'd say that the head coach needs to let Love loose.
"I would argue he's too cautious with the football. I would argue because of the offensive line and because of the [defense], he's not cutting it loose," Orlovsky said on ESPN. "If I was Matt LaFleur, I would sit there and say, 'Jordan, start throwing the ball downfield. If you throw an interception, it's on me. If you throw an interception, we traded 7,000 picks for Micah Parsons, and we paid him a billion dollars.'"
Another point Orlovsky brought up was not a criticism of Love, but a criticism of Love's critics.
There seems to be this idea out there that Love can be wildly irresponsible when throwing the football, and that's just not true.
Love's quarterback-to-interception ratio since Week 12 of the 2024 season is 22-to-3. That comes out to just 0.7%, which is tied with Lamar Jackson and just behind Jalen Hurts (0.3%) and Matthew Stafford (0.6%).
That's an elite company of quarterbacks to be a part of, and we all know that Love has elite talent within him.
Perhaps Love, who is still a young quarterback, has been taking those criticisms to heart.
"Monday night, there are people open, but for some reason, he won't throw the football because everybody talks about Jordan Love being the reason the Packers aren't going to win games because if he gives the ball away, it's the worst thing," Orlovsky said.
Maybe that's it. Or perhaps LaFleur's offense has grown stale and Love's offensive line has been terrible over these past two games, to say the least. Love was hit six times and sacked once against the Panthers, and the Eagles hit him eight more times and notched three sacks.
Whatever it is, LaFleur needs to do something new, because this offense appears to be dead in the water.
At 5-3-1 and riding a two-game losing skid, what does LaFleur have to lose?
Let Love loose.