Jordan Love's impressive first season as the Packers' starting QB ended with what he admitted was a “mortal sin.”
With less than a minute left and a first-and-10 from their own 36-yard line and the Packers leading by three points with two timeouts left, Love rolls to his right and finds an open receiver. I had a hard time.
Rather than throw the ball away, Love threw the ball into triple coverage toward receiver Christian Watson, who intercepted it, ending Green Bay's season.
Had the 25-year-old Love thrown the ball wide, the Packers would still have had enough time to get into field goal range for a chance to force overtime, but Green Bay lost 24-21 on Saturday. , I was left stunned. Divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Love said he “tried to force himself on” Watson but “didn't look behind the scenes.”
“I haven't seen it yet. I haven't seen the pictures yet. When I look back, I'm like, oh, I just threw it away,” Love told reporters after the 24-21 loss. “I don't know if I had a chance to run, maybe I could have gone out of bounds, but I forced it over the middle in the second half. It was a grave sin and it cost us. That's the area right there where I can see. [it], will grow and become even better in the future. ”
Love finished the game with 21-of-34 hits for 194 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Both of his touchdown passes came in the third quarter, with a 19-yard pass to Bo Melton and a 2-yard pass to Tucker Craft to give the Packers a 21-14 lead.
Love's playoff debut last week against the Cowboys went much better for the Packers, with the quarterback dominating Dallas with 16-of-21 hits for 272 yards, three touchdowns and zero turnovers.
“As the leader of this team, we know this game is going to hurt him,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Love after the loss. “I'm sure he's going to be very hard on himself. And he's got to use that as fuel to keep getting better. But I think we've seen tremendous growth throughout the season. I think he's grown not only in his ability to go out there and play winning football consistently, but also as a leader. That's very important for him to become the franchise quarterback that I expect him to be here for a long time. I think that.”
During the regular season, Love threw for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions, completing 64.2 percent of his passes.
