Last season, Jordan Love proved that he could be the franchise quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Learning from No. 12 really did the trick for him! He even cracked a $220 million deal for himself, but that isn’t where his ambitions stop. He has doubled down on improving further and this is something the Packers receiver, Christian Watson, can vouch for. Love won’t let anything stop him. Not even the recent injury scare he experienced!

“Honestly, even just, you know, looking back and watching clips from last year, towards the end of the year, when everything was clicking to now, just watching clips from practice, I don’t know how he’s managed to do it in such a short time during this offseason,” said Christian Watson on The Rich Eisen Show on August 8, regarding Love improving.

Well, in June, the QB had already identified that he needed to make improvements to his pocket movement. His aim is to stay in the pocket and quickly spot receivers downfield. His dedication seems to have impressed his team members.

No doubt, Watson stated, “His accuracy, his ability to read the defense and go out there and manipulate and make throws, this camp has just been crazy. Obviously, we have that connection, you know. All the receivers that we were able to build up throughout the year last year, so that definitely comes into play. But he’s going out there and he’s showing why he deserves every single penny that he got with his new deal.”

But let us take a minute to talk about reading defenses. What better place to start than the Packers-Cowboys wild card game from the last season? The Cowboys’ infamously great defense failed to put a dent in Love’s armor. He wasn’t sacked even once; he didn’t throw an interception and completed 76.2% of his throws. Love came out with a passer rating of 157.2 in that game. That’s near perfect!

Though Love lost the game against the Niners, he sure gave them a run for their money, throwing 2 touchdowns. He did throw two INTs but didn’t let Bosa, Greenlaw, or Fred Warner sack him. Not once. However, the 25-year-old has a problem when he’s under duress. Though he had the fifth-highest air yards/pass attempt last season, when he was pressured, he completed only 40.7% of his passes and averaged 4.7 yards per attempt. Those numbers ranked 27 and 26 in the league, respectively. So there’s some room for improvement.

Love wasn’t practicing while his contract negotiations were in limbo. But with that in place now, fans expect coach Matt LaFleur and the Packers to be more aggressive. He had previously accepted that his play-calling was too conservative last season.

The Packers signed Love for a four-year contract extension- a $220 million contract. That puts him in a tie for the highest-paid player in NFL history. Surely, cheeseheads want to see tangible results. However, Watson is confident that Love will prove himself. “… there’s a lot of people that, you know, say that he deserves it and you know, there’s obviously going to be the people who say he doesn’t. I think he’s going to show everybody exactly why he, you know, deserves…”

Additionally, Love has also been watching the tapes from last season in an attempt to improve. But the Packers’ paradise is facing slight issues. A potential injury on the line?

Jordan Love caused massive panic in the Pack!

It was Thursday’s practice when Love found himself knocked to the ground after 11-on-11 practice. He was seen “walking gingerly” after hurting his left leg/knee. That happened towards the end of practice, but everything turned out to be okay, as Love was seen stretching his leg and jogging off the field.

Bryan Engel, the head trainer, checked him out and declared that he was fine. It was dubbed as a “minor” issue by The Athletic’s Mark Schneidman.

Love’s injury took place just one day after Watson fell while practicing and stayed down for a few minutes. People were quite concerned because the player had already missed 11 games during his first two seasons, as he had issues with his right hamstring. This time, though his leg was bruised and sore, the injury didn’t seem too concerning. In fact, the next day, he was back on the field.

Injuries have been a problem for the team. Let us not forget that in January, Matt LaFleur fired the strength and conditioning coach, Chris Gizzi. Athletes encountered quite a lot of soft tissue injuries in 2023 and this could have been the reason for such a decision. Of the eight receivers that they had, four experienced hamstring issues. In comparison, the league’s 31 other teams have had four players on their Week 1 injury report for hamstring problems. So one assumes the team would have addressed these problems in the offseason.

The Browns last defeated the Packers in the regular season on September 18, 2005, with a final score of 26-24.