Jordan Love's Coverage Recognition vs. Vikings Leads to Another Great Performance

Everything that happens for the remainder of the season is just gravy for the Packers. 2023 was all about the development of Jordan Love and discovering what type of quarterback he could be. Well, the verdict is in, and between his talent and feel for the position, the Packers appear to be set at quarterback for yet another decade. Because of this, it’s hard to argue that 2023 hasn’t been a huge success regardless of how the season ends.

Love’s 30 touchdown passes are the 3rd-most in the NFL this season. And he’s gotten better as the year has progressed. During his last 7 starts, he’s completed over 68% of his passes for 262 yards per game and has a ridiculous 16-1 TD-INT ratio. The Packers are unsurprisingly 5-2 during that span.

On Sunday night against the Vikings, Love had possibly his best game as a pro. He was in complete control. His ability to recognize and react to Minnesota’s constant disguises and post-snap movement allowed him to execute at a very high level.

His first touchdown was a great example. The Packers motioned to a 2x2 formation, and Minnesota matched up with a single-high look:

But with the Vikings defense, you can’t trust what your’e seeing pre-snap. So Love used a hard (silent) count. Minnesota tipped their hand:

The boundary safety racing to the sideline and the two defenders to the right starting to drop out suggested that the Vikings would be rotating to some kind of 2-deep look. They led the league in cover-2 frequency heading into Week 17, according to Cody Alexander of Match Quarters. And they had already spun out into it multiple times to this point in the game. So cover-2 was a distinct possibility here.

At the snap, Love looked left after the play-fake to verify the coverage. Indeed, the boundary safety would race to the sideline: