GREEN BAY \u2014 Jordan Love insisted it\u2019s just part of the gig. And that is a noble, admirable way to view all the punishment he\u2019s absorbed through the season\u2019s first six games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m good. It’s football. You’re going to take some hits, and that\u2019s part of playing the quarterback job,\u201d the Green Bay Packers quarterback said following Sunday night\u2019s win over the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be able to stand in that pocket and take some hits and still deliver balls. So we’ll look at what we can clean up to obviously prevent [hits]. The goal is to not get hit, but for me, that’s my job. I\u2019ve got to be able to stand in there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to be good in this league, you\u2019ve got to be able to sit in there and take some hits and still deliver the ball. If I can hang in there, get the ball out, throw an accurate ball, let [pass catchers] run after the catch, we’ll be in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the bone-jarring, teeth-rattling hits on Love cannot continue \u2014 at least, not if head coach Matt LaFleur, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich and Love\u2019s teammates want him to make it through the remaining 11 games, including Sunday\u2019s NFC North road showdown with the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, and lead them to the NFL postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s definitely getting hit way too hard. We\u2019ve got to do a better job in protection,\u201d Stenavich confessed Tuesday afternoon as the coaches put together their game plan for Sunday\u2019s matchup between the Packers (4-2), who\u2019ve won three in a row, and the Lions (3-2), who are coming off their bye week. \u201cIt’s just courage. That’s all it is \u2014 just courage to stand in there and deliver. It’s a rare quality, but he definitely has it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a couple plays where we were not on the same page last week [against Dallas], so we\u2019ve got to make sure we clean that up. Because we can’t have free runners at the quarterback. You\u2019ve got to make sure you protect him.\u201d<\/p>\n
And thusfar this season, the Packers haven\u2019t been able to do that.<\/p>\n
Heading into the Week 7 slate of games, Love has absorbed 45 quarterback hits, according to NFL official statistics \u2014 tied for the most in the league with Cleveland\u2019s Deshaun Watson. He\u2019s been sacked 13 times, which is tied for 10th-most in the league \u2014 a testament to how good he\u2019s been at making subtle movements in the pocket to avoid pass-rushers or get the ball out of his hand before being taken down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe call it \u2018no flinch.\u2019 Can you stand in there knowing that you’re going to take a hit and deliver the football?\u201d LaFleur said.<\/p>\n
While the frequency of the QB hits has dropped in recent weeks \u2014 Love took 30 of those hits in the first three games, as the Packers started 1-2, and has taken half that many during the team\u2019s three-game winning streak \u2014 he absorbed eight hits and three sacks in last Sunday night\u2019s win over the Cowboys, even with LaFleur trying to move the pocket and reduce the number of straight drop-backs that put him in harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n
Among the shots Love took were a sack by ex-Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark and three QB hits by ex-Packers edge rusher Rashan Gary.<\/p>\n
\u201cJordan is tough. I gave up a little pressure and I saw Jordan make a completion \u2014 but just get absolutely smacked by Rashan,\u201d tight end Tucker Kraft confessed. \u201cYou wish you could have those things back. You don\u2019t want to see your quarterback on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
The offensive line has found stunts and twists by opposing defensive linemen particularly problematic, struggling to block their assigned pass rusher when things get confusing. And the Lions, who enter this week\u2019s games with an NFL-high 20 sacks despite playing only five games, are especially adept with playing games up front, Stenavich said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lions, I think, do a really nice job with their twists. So we’re going to have a big week of working on that this week for sure,\u201d Stenavich said.<\/p>\n
In a noisy indoor stadium where his linemen will be a split-second slow getting off at the snap, Love will surely have to get the ball out under duress more than a few times.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know when we’re scouting quarterbacks and we’re evaluating them, to me, that’s a prerequisite,\u201d LaFleur sai. \u201cNow, that\u2019s not to say that you can’t overcome that, but usually the old chuck-and-duck isn’t too good for anybody. So you always try to find guys that will stand in there and deliver in the face of pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s hard to find pockets like that in college football. So what we like to do is take a lot of the clips where you see a muddy pocket or you see guys blitzing the quarterback, and see how they react to those. Because that’s almost every play in the National Football League.\u201d<\/p>\n
Handling such conditions is among the areas where Love has shown the greatest amount of growth since the Packers selected him in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n