Lori Nickel: A veteran Packers offensive line will aim to keep the heat off new starting QB Jordan Love
GREEN BAY − The pressure is all on quarterback Jordan Love.
But the fact is Love’s offensive line will play a big role in his starting-career debut in Chicago on Sunday for the 2023 season opener.
It’s a significant turnabout for what we’ve been accustomed to in Green Bay. Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers are mostly remembered for their veteran years, their MVP seasons, their leadership and vast experience. It feels like it’s always been the QB leading the Packers.
But this Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field, the offensive line – with more experience than Love – is set to not only try to play its best, but also do a few extra things to have Love’s back.
Of the five projected starting linemen for the Packers – left tackle David Bakhtiari (130 career regular-season starts), left guard Elgton Jenkins (53), center Josh Myers (23), right guard Jon Runyan (33) and right tackle Zach Tom (5) – all have more NFL starts than Love, who started once, in 2021.
Jenkins and Myers shared their thoughts on how they can best support Love in his first season as the starting quarterback.
Jordan Love has a solid foundation to build upon
One concern the line doesn’t have: Love’s effort and professionalism in his preparation for this game.
“He's a guy that wants to be coached, for sure,” Jenkins said. “Seeing him grow the last three, four years, he was a guy that wanted to be coached. He’d want to know what he did wrong; or he has those questions to us on the line, like how do I feel about this? What made you more comfortable?”
Said Myers: “I've been super impressed with his composure and everything that he's done.”
There will be plenty of noise in Chicago
Soldier Field in Chicago might get loud. Maybe not Kansas City or Seattle or old Minneapolis Metrodome loud, but loud.
“I will be communicating and making sure I take care of all of the things that I possibly can,” Myers said. “Make sure the cadence is perfect, make sure the silent cadence that I'm doing is perfect. And communicating with him and making sure he's all good back there.”
They can be brutally honest with Love
The players dropped formalities a long time ago. They can be honest with each other – and Jenkins said Love welcomes that.
“This is definitely just one of those environments where you can't really afford to not be,” Myers said.
They can sense his comfort level
With just the offseason work and training camp together, Myers already can sense when Love is not feeling comfortable on a play. Myers is the closest of the 10 on the field to Love, so some of that is natural. The rest is intuitive.
“That's hard for other people because there's so much going on with a play,” Myers said. “But I can tell you that me, personally, I know if he's starting to panic.”
It means that Myers has to be aware of what he’s doing, aware of what the offense is trying to do, and also aware of what Love is dealing with on every play.
“Depth of the pocket is a perfect example,” Myers said. “When I've gotten driven back a certain amount of yards and I know how deep his drop is, I know when he's going to start to get uncomfortable. When I'm too far back.
“So I'll put my foot in the ground and really try and not give up any more ground at a certain point, if that makes sense.”
How long do they need to protect? 3.5 seconds? 4 seconds?
It all depends on the formation, of course, like how many drop steps by Love, or is he in the shotgun − or the play itself − but generally speaking, an NFL offensive line should hold up for 3.5 or even 4 seconds with pass protection. The timing expectation is a massive generalization, and varies all the time, but those linemen always have an internal clock running in their mind.
So maybe this sounds good in theory, but impractical or unreasonable in practice: Can they hold up a little longer? Just to settle Love.
“It's funny that you asked that actually, because our coaches are huge on block to infinity,” Myers said. “Everything's got to come together. Technically, you got to be super sound. And then, from an Xs and Os game-play standpoint, I have to be really comfortable with everything we're doing and making sure that I understand the whole plan.”
Jenkins agreed. Block until Buzz Lightyear. That's always the goal.
Can they calm Love? Do they even need to?
There will be breakdowns, though, in protection. Chicago has a lot of pent-up dislike for the Packers and the old, Rodgers “I own you” rivalry. Love will have to adapt and react. But he should know the offensive line is tuned in to the fact that this is no ordinary game.
“Oh, for sure,” Jenkins said. “But, honestly, I have to give credit to Jordan on that. I feel like Jordan is like already at the point in his career where he can be calm, cool, collected, when it's an environment like that.
“Honestly, I've seen him play for a year or two ago against Kansas City. He came in and took command of the huddle. We can help as the offensive line, just making sure we do our job keeping him upright. But Jordan don't get too low or too high. Lets everything play out. I have to give him credit.”
They have a personal stake in looking out for him
Linemen and quarterbacks have been tight in the past in Green Bay. That 2003 offensive line in Green Bay set the gold standard for Favre. All five started all 16 games (18 including the playoffs) and allowed just 19 sacks all year.
A decent quarterback understands he can’t show off his skills without the line. They build friendships and trust over time. Rodgers was famous for buying his linemen gifts like big-screen TVs and ATVs. The best build genuine friendships with their linemen.
“I love Jordan as a person, love him as a teammate,” Jenkins said. “Keeping him upright and keeping his headspace good is one of big things for me, for our O-line.
“He's a great guy. I talk to him every day. The relationship that I have with him definitely makes me want to go out there and push more for him. Make sure he succeeds as a player and in life as a person because, you know, I've seen him coming in as a rookie not playing, second year, third year … So it's definitely one of those things where we are playing for the love of Jordan.
“I feel like we have a great relationship, actually. You know, he's always around. He's always with the guys making sure that we good. He learned a lot from 12 with doing that. What 12 did with the O-line, the receivers, offense − really with the whole team, he took those things ... and kind of implemented to him.”
What the O-line is looking for Sunday
Finally, there will be one thing Jenkins will be looking for during the game. As someone who knows Love well, Jenkins wants this for him the most:
“Just being confident,” Jenkins said. “This is one of the main things I want to see out of him. He is always being more positive instead of being negative.”
Said Myers: “He's been in this system for four years. He belongs here for every second of it, and he's absolutely earned the job that he's got. I would tell him to just let it rip. And have fun.”
By the way, both Favre (1992) and Rodgers (2008) won the first starts that officially launched their eras in Green Bay – and both of them were at Lambeau.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Veteran Packers line aims to keep heat off new starting QB Jordan Love
