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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The 65-yard touchdown pass that Dontayvion Wicks caught in stride on the third play of Saturday’s preseason opener at the Cleveland Browns was reminiscent of the 17 deep balls that Jordan Love connected on last year.
Only two quarterbacks hit on more throws of 25 or more air yards last season: New Orleans’ Derek Carr and Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa with 19.
As perfect as that throw looked against the Browns on Saturday as it floated 27.7 yards in the air, according to NFL Next Gen Stats tracking, it’s easy to forget that even with 17 deep-throw connections last season, Love’s completion rate on those passes was no better than 15th among all quarterbacks.
No wonder working to improve Love’s 34.7% success rate on those throws of 25-plus air-yards has been a focus in training camp. And no wonder Love, Wicks and the Packers coaches were ecstatic that they pulled it off on their first attempt in a game situation, even if it was only the preseason.
“That’s what we wanted to do; that’s what we talked about all week — starting fast,” Wicks said. “That’s what we came out and did. Coaches called the play, trusted us and we got it done.”
It’s not all on the quarterback.
“As you watched his route, when he set the guy up and he was going to the red line,” passing game coordinator Jason Vrable said. “I felt early in the year last year we were kinda getting rerouted at that point and pushed out a little bit wider than we want.
“On deep balls, you have to stack the defender. If you’re not, then it’s just a 50-50 ball. We don’t really want those. He did a really good job with the set at the top and the shoulders down, the dig in, and then Jordan threw a great ball and the protection was great.”
Last summer, Love struggled to hit his speed receivers in practice. Deep ball after deep ball ended up hitting the ground, many of them underthrown.
In the first seven games of last season, Love completed just 7 of 25 throws that went at least 25 yards in the air. At 28%, he ranked 23rd among all starting quarterbacks in completion percentage on those plays. Five quarterbacks were at 50% or better on those throws last season.
“He’s always had the arm talent to make the throws downfield,” quarterbacks coach Tom Clements said. “I think just at the beginning of the year, you can call deep passes and, if you get the right coverage, then you have a shot to take it downfield. If you don’t get the right coverage, you can’t force it downfield. I think maybe at times we were trying to go downfield when the defense didn’t allow it.”
He showed significant improvement during the last 10 games. He completed 10 of 24 on deep throws, to rank 11th in the league at 41.7%.
“I think a lot of it with him early last year, he was kind of forcing balls down the field,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “Once he just understood, ‘OK, it might not be there. Bang, hit your checkdown.’ So he was hitting a lot more checkdowns. And then, when the open balls were there, he was hitting them, you know what I mean? He wasn’t forcing it. So I think it was just basically taking what the defense gives you and having that understanding of being patient. I think that was big for him.”
That has carried over into training camp. In many of the 13 practices to date this summer, Love’s deep shots have landed in someone’s hands — often Christian Watson‘s.
“I think we’re in a really good spot,” Watson said. “We’ve got four weeks ’til Game 1, so we’ve got plenty of time to work on it still, plenty of opportunities. But I think that we’ve connected well on it so far, and I think it’s only going to get better from here on out. So I think we’re in a good spot.”
There’s a case to be made that a single deep throw changed the fortunes of last season. With the Packers sitting at 4-6 heading to Detroit on Thanksgiving, coach Matt LaFleur thought about opening the game with a shot play to Watson.
Love and Watson went to sleep on the eve of the game thinking that play would be their opener, only for LaFleur to tell Love the next morning that he had changed his mind. Love talked LaFleur back into the call, and it turned into a 53-yard completion to set up the first touchdown of a 29-22 upset win at Ford Field.
LaFleur wasn’t always a fan of the deep ball, but in an interview with ESPN last summer, he explained his change of heart, saying it was because of Aaron Rodgers. He said he always viewed go balls “as maybe a lower percentage throw. With him, they weren’t so low percentage.”
Last season, only Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts attempt more throws of 25-plus air yards (52) than Love’s 49. Hurts also completed 17 of them.
Shot plays aren’t the only type of deep ball that LaFleur calls. And some of them aren’t called at all. Jayden Reed caught a team-high six of Love’s 17 such completions and several came in scramble situations. Romeo Doubs caught four, Watson and tight end Luke Musgrave had three each, and Samori Toure one. Wicks did not catch any despite his 14.9-yard average per catch, which was second on the team behind Watson’s 15.1-yard average.
Who knows if LaFleur would have called the deep shot he did in Saturday’s preseason win over the Browns if the situation had been the same in a regular-season game.
“I have a better feel for where guys are going to be at, where I need to put the ball on some of those deep balls, what the leverage might be of the [defensive back], and just playing with confidence,” Love said earlier in training camp. “I’m just putting it out there as far as I can, and letting them go out there and make a play and try not to overthrow them.”
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