Looking at Jordan Love’s interceptions in Weeks 1-5
We’re in the bye week, which means I need to go hunting for things to write about. Since I don’t have plays from the previous week to break down, I asked, “What’s something interesting from the first 9 weeks that I could dig into?” I asked myself, my friends, my children, the internet, etc. One of the main things people were curious about was Jordan Love’s interceptions. We remember watching them – have even seen some of them broken down – but it seemed like this would be a good chance to look at all of them in one space and really see what’s happening. Are these bad decisions? Inaccurate throws? Both? We’ll take a look at each one, looking at the concept and what it’s trying to accomplish, then see what Love did with it.
First, some numbers.
Through Week 9, Jordan Love is tied for the most interceptions thrown this season with 10 (he is tied with Geno Smith, with Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield hot on their trail with 9 a piece).
If we look at Interception Rate, Jordan Love is 3rd worst in the league this year, with an Interception Rate of 4.2%. That puts him just slightly behind Anthony Richardson (5.3%) and Bryce Young (4.7%), and just ahead of Andy Dalton (3.8%).
None of those are great. So let’s take a look at all of them. Sounds like fun, right?
In the interest of avoiding a single 2,000-word article, we’re gonna split this in half. In this article we’re covering interceptions 1-5 (Week 1 – Week 5), and covering interceptions 6-10 (Week 6-Week 9) in the next one.
Interception #1: Week 1
2nd & 11, 6:15 remaining in the 3rd quarter
The Packers are running a one-man Stick concept on the left, with the slot receiver running a quick-out and the outside receiver. That’s paired with a longer-developing Dagger concept from the right, with Luke Musgrave [88] running a vertical route from in-line and Dontayvion Wicks [13] running an in-cutter behind it.
At the snap, the Eagles bring Nakobe Dean [17] on a blitz from the second level and drop Zach Baun [53] to the middle of the field. Baun initially has eyes on Jordan Love, but, once Musgrave goes vertical, Baun turns his head and carries Musgrave up the middle.
Love originally reads the Stick concept, but he doesn’t like it. As he works back to the middle, he sees Baun with his head turned and Reed Blankenship [32] on the opposite hash. He throws to the left hash, looking for Musgrave to bend his route.
Musgrave bends the route, but he fades on the catch, allowing Blankenship to drive on it and make a nice play on the ball.
A risky throw for sure, but I’m fine with the decision.
Interception #2: Week 4
3rd & 7, 00:23 remaining in the 1st quarter
The Packers are running Dagger on the left side, and pairing it with a hitch/Arrow from the inside man, as a kind of Dagger/Bow combination (we’ll get into the specifics of Bow a little later). All the chaos off the defensive line can make it tough for a QB to get a feel for what’s going on (by design), but it looks like Kamu Grugier-Hill [54] is carrying Luke Musgrave vertically to the middle. With the underneath defender pinned down by the hitch route, Love throws to Christian Watson [9].
Unfortunately, Gruigier-Hill peels off the vertical route from Musgrave and steps in front of the pass.
To me, this one is just a defender making a play. This is the read within the rhythm of the play, and you’re throwing against a LB with his hips flipped. Love is anticipating the middle of the field to be open, but Gruigier-Hill just steps down and makes a play.
Again, a tight-window throw, but I don’t think I have an issue with the actual decision.
Interception #3: Week 4
1st & 10, 6:05 remaining in the 2nd quarter
Remember when I said we were getting into specifics of Bow a little later? Well, now is that later. Packers are running Bow on the left, with Luke Musgrave on the hitch route and Romeo Doubs [87] on the dig route.
The idea on this concept is to have the hitch pin down the underneath defender, then wrap the dig over the top. Because of that, the read is the dig as the first read and the hitch as the second read.
There are a lot of defensive bodies on that side of the field, so the read isn’t quite as clean as you might like it to be. Still, after Harrison Smith [22] passes off Doubs, he falls down on Musgrave, leaving a window to hit Doubs. The timing is good. The read is good.
Unfortunately, Musgrave thinks this pass is for him. He tips the ball on his leap, it bounces around a bit and eventually gets picked-off.
A bit of bad luck on this one.
Good decision. Good throw. Bad luck.
Interception #4: Week 4
1st & 10, 6:20 remaining in the 4th quarter
Packers are running hitches to the left side and are sending Dontayvion Wicks on a vertical route from the right. Wicks is the Alert here: not truly a part of the progression, but there if Love likes the match-up and wants to take a shot.
The Vikings have Smith aligning in the box and have their single “deep” safety aligned on the opposite hash from Wicks. So this looks like a nice one-on-one opportunity downfield.
At the snap, Love checks the safety, then comes back and throws deep to Wicks in the face of Smith screaming off the edge.
Without knowing the route Wicks is running, it’s impossible to know who’s at fault here. Love throws inside while Wicks fades outside, putting Byron Murphy [7] in position to make a pretty easy INT.
This one feels like miscommunication crossed with a YOLO ball. If I were to try to pin this on someone, I’ll say that I’d put this more on Wicks than Love. Given the fact that Murphy is showing outside leverage pre-snap – and carries that forward post-snap – Love assuming Wicks taking an inside route down the field on that makes a lot of sense.
Interception #5: Week 5
3rd & 12, 2:12 remaining in the 2nd quarter
This interception, man. OOF.
From a concept perspective, it looks like they’re trying to take a big shot downfield off a PA Boot variation. Boot right, get the defense moving right, then pull up and throw backside to a route breaking to the left.
I know some people had issues with this playcall, but I’m cool with it. I prefer putting your QB in a position to make a big play on 3rd & 12 than I go with a give-up draw. This moves the pocket and puts the QB in position to throw the ball away if he needs to, while setting up the potential for a big play.
Unfortunately, there’s a breakdown in protection off the left side. On The Matt LaFleur Podcast, LaFleur said that this was an “unscouted look” from the Rams and they “hadn’t gotten to that protection” this season. That leads to Byron Young [0] coming unblocked off the edge. When Love pulls up to throw, Young runs right into him. In an attempt to get rid of the ball, Love chucks blindly while falling backwards.
It goes…poorly.
I’ll be back in the next day or so to walk through the next set of interceptions. Is it fun? Probably not! But it has been an interesting exercise, so I’m excited for the next part to drop.
Albums listened to: The Choir – Free Flying Soul; Halsey – The Great Impersonator; Kate Bush – Hounds of Love; The Rocky Valentines – Erase