The Break Out: These young Packers are proving they’re worth building around

(Photo Courtesy of AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

The Packers offense is so, so, so young. But they remain firmly on the tracks, and they continue to flash.

By Sam Robb O’Hagan

It was a weird day at Lambeau. Packers fans will probably need to get used to those.

A 76-yard punt return touchdown conceded. A failed trick play that ended with Jordan Love throwing the football in the splits. A frightening Love interception, then a perplexing missed fourth-down conversion in the red zone. An endlessly frustrating Jayden Reed drop.

And an 18-17 win over the unbeaten New Orleans Saints, exactly as it was planned.

“I’ve never been part of a win like this,” Head Coach Matt LaFleur said after the game.

That’s because the Packers have never had a team like this.

Perhaps most important in those errors — a comedy of errors, at times — is the age of the accused. Patrick Taylor, one half of the miscommunication on the failed fourth-and-2, is 25. Love is 24. Reed, a rookie, is 23.

Sympathy will be required with these young Packers. Lost in Green Bay’s commitment to surrounding Love with playmakers the past two seasons — the Packers have drafted seven pass-catchers in the last two drafts — is the historic youth of this Packers’ offense.

It’s more than the volume of young receivers in the building. It’s the lack, the complete absence, in fact, of a veteran presence in the receiver room.

The oldest relevant Packers’ receiver is Christian Watson, at 24, who’s in his second season. Beyond him, it’s Romeo Doubs, another sophomore, and then Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and tight end Luke Musgrave, who are all rookies.

Love, the quarterback in his fourth season, has thrown less than 200 NFL passes.

These are all impressive players. But they’ve barely played any football.

Widen the scope to the entire team, and LeFleur’s roster is the youngest in the NFL. It should come as no surprise that their head coach, who’s accumulated the fourth-best winning percentage in NFL history for a coach in his first four seasons, is seeing things he’s never seen before.

“We’ve got a young group. I think that’s something we’ve got to re-evaluate as a coaching staff,” LeFleur conceded Sunday. “We had a lot of mistakes offensively. Just didn’t execute most of the plan.”

By the start of their first-fourth quarter drive, as Green Bay trailed 17-0, the mistakes had become an enigma. The Packers had committed 10 penalties. Minutes earlier, a disastrous fourth-and-2 on the Saints’ 13-yard-line — what looked like a combination of a miscommunication between quarterback and receiver and an inaccurate Love throw.

Love’s inaccuracy was a problem throughout the game to that point. Moments of questionable decision-making appeared, too. Particularly at the start of the second half, when Love made the bizarre decision to throw a bracketed deep ball to Doubs, complete with an inaccurate pass placed inside the hashes to give the middle-field safety a free interception.

More than halfway through the third quarter, Love had completed nine of 21 passes for 87 yards.

Love finished the game with 259 yards, and the Packers finished one-point winners. Such is the roller coaster of the league’s most inexperienced offense. 

But along that roller coaster, critically, there are things to hang on to. And there are so, so many of them.

Even along Green Bay’s 17-point comeback in the fourth quarter, mistakes were made. Reed dropped a gorgeously placed slot fade to the end zone from Love on a critical second-and-7 — a drive that two plays later ended with just three points. But within that mistake, there are places to hang on. The ball from Love was perfect. The route from Reed created separation, against press coverage from rookie cornerback Alontae Taylor, who already looks like a star. Reed’s body control, as he tracked the ball coming over his shoulder, was flawless. The ability to resist Taylor’s invading hands at the catch point — perfect. He just needed to catch the football.

That’s it. One young mistake, on an otherwise veteran play.

Reed has been a success through three professional games. He’s Green Bay’s leading receiver, he’s caught two touchdowns and he’s averaged over 16 yards per reception. Pro Football Focus gives him a 67.9 overall grade — perfectly acceptable, and rather promising — for a rookie of his pedigree. Impressive routes liter his film.

But, there was a point on Sunday when the finger was firmly pointed at Reed. What happened next was emphatic. An eerily similar slot fade, once again against Taylor, once again on second-and-long, once again at a critical moment in the game. The route created separation. The hand-fighting before the ball arrived was won. The catch — which required extended arms and a dive — was finally made. Three plays later, the touchdown that gave the Packers the lead. A mistake learned from, and a statement made.

Another crucial constant between those two plays were the passes from Love. Green Bay’s quarterback has been quite the roller coaster himself, such is the reality of a pseudo-rookie who’s in his fourth professional season but has only made five professional starts. 

Baked between the mistakes, though, is a remarkable level of soundness. Love’s attitude in the pocket has been especially convincing. On long-developing plays, due to the concept, the lack of separation downfield, or both, Love remains calm. In the face of pressure, instead of dropping his eyes to the rush in front of him, Love keeps his eyes surveying down field. When forced to move his platform, Love easily shuffles up and down, and side to side, to find a new window to throw.

Take a look at Love’s first throw of the second quarter against New Orleans. It’s a third-down incompletion, yes, but Love’s navigation of the pocket is so tranquil — despite interior pressure and a play that requires him to hold the football for over five seconds. That is veteran stuff, plain and simple.

But Love is a creative passer, too. The wide variety of arm angles Love has used to deliver accurate throws has become a phenomenon in Green Bay, and it isn’t difficult to figure out which particularly astute veteran he learned them from. When Love can’t shuffle to find a perfect platform, he’s made impressive throws down the field off of his back foot, like on the end zone slot fade to Reed. When Love has been forced to create with his legs, he’s found ways to extend and complete plays, like on the critical, game-changing two-point conversion midway through the fourth quarter. 

Each of these qualities, individually, is a worthwhile block to build upon. Together, they’re more than halfway to a legitimate NFL franchise quarterback.

But, again, sympathy will be required with Love. Just as it will with Reed, and Romeo Doubs, who made the game-winning touchdown catch and appeared like Green Bay’s consistent veteran presence on Sunday because he too is only in his second season. It will be required when Christian Watson returns from injury, who looks to build off an exciting rookie season infested with drops.

“It certainly wasn’t pretty,” LeFleur said.

No, it certainly wasn’t. But the Packers aren’t looking for ‘pretty’.

The Packers are looking for proof. Proof that such an extraordinarily young offense is equally talented, that the inevitable bad that comes with such inexperience is offset by the good that comes with such talent. The Packers are looking for places to hang their hats.

“It was like a nightmare that turned into a dream,” LeFleur said. Such is the roller coaster of these Green Bay Packers.

Fortunately, the dream is all that matters.