Jordan Love played like a superstar against his old mentor, Aaron Rodgers. Speaking of superstars, the former Green Bay Packers' star quarterback candidly praised the young quarterback's evolution after the game.
Jordan Love was a superstar for the Green Bay Packers against his old mentor and teammate, Aaron Rodgers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Love, now in his sixth NFL season, came into Sunday Night Football's contest between the Packers and Steelers with a ton of pressure on his shoulders. The Packers were 4-1-1 and facing a massive road test in the previously 4-2 Steelers. All the attention was on Rodgers and his matchup with the team that helped him become a living NFL legend. In the meantime, though, an underrated storyline heading into the contest was Love's chance to prove that the Packers made the right move not just by drafting him in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, but by moving on from Rodgers in favor of him in April of 2023.
Had Love come out and played a dud of a game, while Rodgers looked like vintage Rodgers, that would have provided Packers fans a troubling and very obvious dichotomy.
Instead, what we saw on Sunday night was a young quarterback fully coming into his own and fully entering into the NFL MVP conversation. There was clearly a better quarterback on the field at Acrisure Stadium (which should still be known as Heinz Field, by the way) on Sunday Night, and it wasn't the one with four MVP awards and a Super Bowl win already under his belt.
It was Love, and Rodgers confirmed it after the game.
“He played great, played fantastic,” Rodgers said of Love, according to Jori Epstein of Yahoo! Sports. “He’s had a really nice season. He’s been really efficient with the football. He’s opportunistic, though. I felt like he was very patient tonight. They took the run solutions. He took the checkdowns, moved in the pocket well. He played outstanding."
The eye test suggested that Love was the far better quarterback compared to his old mentor, but the numbers did as well.
Love completed 29-of-37 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns. His passer-rating was 134.2 and his QBR was 89.1. Rodgers completed 24-of-36 passes for 219 yards an two touchdowns. His passer-rating was 101.5 and his QBR was 38.7.
Love was so good, in fact, that his output in this one will go down in NFL history.
On the season, Love has thrown for 2,158 yards and 16 touchdowns against just two interceptions.
From his coach's perspective, there has been growth from day one. That's obvious to anyone who has watched Love's career so far, but what most of us haven't seen is all the work that has gone into his development. He's quickly becoming a star, but he's worked for every single accolade.
"He was patient throughout the process, throughout the journey, and he just took advantage of the opportunity. He really did," Matt LaFleur said after the game. "It's been cool, and I've said this many times, just to watch how he's matured as a young guy coming in here at 21 years old, and he's a grown a-- man now, and you see it. What he does, how he carries himself. He's so confident. He's a great teammate, he encourages the other guys, he's a hell of a leader, and he's really grown as a football player."