The play will forever be part of Jordan Love’s highlight reel – a 53-yard bomb that the Green Bay Packers quarterback threw to Christian Watson on the first offensive play of last year’s Thanksgiving Day game, en route to an upset against the Detroit Lions.

The story behind that play may eventually fade, but not for Mike Sanford, Love’s offensive coordinator and position coach during his final college season at Utah State University in 2019.

When Sanford read that LaFleur sent Love a text message the morning of the game saying he had changed his mind and wanted to start playing a safer game – only to have Love convince his coach to stick with it – Sanford knew Sanford said it was a big moment for the Packers’ starting quarterback.

“He stuck his neck out,” Sanford said.

And that told him that love had reached a breaking point for any quarterback hoping to become a star.

“He’ll never say, ‘No, we have to do this,'” Sanford said. “But he’ll say, ‘No, I like that, we should stick with it.’ I had the same interactions with him before games when we were putting together the opening games.

START WITH A DEEP BALL!@jordan3love To @ChristianW2017 💪#GBvsDET | #GoPackGo

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/BArevnhjYs

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 23, 2023

From that point on, LaFleur knew what he had in Love: a quarterback who studied the game to the point that if Love fought back, he would provide sound arguments to support his case.

If that weren’t the case The The moment it became clear to everyone that Love could be one of the game’s elite quarterbacks, it at least suggested that he might soon join that fraternity.

“I think he just felt confident in the game,” LaFleur recalled during an interview with ESPN. “Whether I did it or not, he’s the one who pulled the trigger. So if he feels safe in it, I’ll allow it.”

Fifty-three weeks later, the Packers (9-3) returned to Ford Field for the first time since the Thanksgiving game and faced the first-place Lions (11-1) on Thursday night (8:15 p.m. ET). Prime Video) has given Love LaFleur no reason to think otherwise.

“Oh my God, he’s the best,” LaFleur said. “I think he’s really coachable.”

---

LAFLEURS TRUST IN Love’s development took three and a half years – the first three years in which Love served as Aaron Rodgers’ backup after he was the No. 26 pick in the 2020 draft.

In meetings, Love listened as intently as any backup LaFleur has ever had, even though he didn’t get a chance to put his learning into action until Love’s fourth NFL season (aside from one start in 2021 when Rodgers had COVID). sick). and had to miss a game in Kansas City).

As LaFleur has said many times since, he made a mistake in the 13-7 loss to the Chiefs by trying to use the same game plan they had developed for Rodgers. The Chiefs countered by knocking Love’s shoulder pads off. Love completed 6 of 17 pass attempts for 30 yards as the Chiefs blitzed, doing so on nearly half of Love’s 35 dropbacks.

Two years later, when Love had another breakthrough moment with the Chiefs — the week after the 2023 Thanksgiving game against the Lions — he was crushing Kansas City’s blitzing attack. In the 27-19 win against the eventual Super Bowl champions, he completed 10 of 13 passes for three touchdowns when facing five or more pass rushers.

According to ESPN Research, since becoming a full-time starter, Love has completed 62% of his passes against the blitz for 17 touchdowns (which is the sixth-most in the NFL against the blitz since the start of the 2023 season) and six interceptions.

It served as a lesson for LaFleur and Love, but it didn’t come into play until 2023, when Love took over after Rodgers was traded to the Jets.

“He’s become one of the best I know at handling all the protection we put on him,” LaFleur said. “It’s pretty remarkable, especially considering where he came from and where he is now.”

“His mind,” LaFleur added, snapping his fingers three times, “he can remember things and see them very quickly on the field. Very rarely will he ever make a mistake on defense.”

No one knows this better than center Josh Myers.

“He did things last year that are not typical of a first-year quarterback,” Myers said. “He made protection calls and switched protections at the line of scrimmage in a way that a first-year starter just doesn’t.”

---

EVERY QUARTERBACK HAS his own starting point when he begins to prepare for a game. For Love, it sometimes starts with looking at plays other teams around the league have used.

In a week with a Sunday game followed by another Sunday game, Love does so on Tuesday, when players are typically off while coaches huddle in game-planning meetings.

It’s not a day off for love.

“Usually I’m alone while the coaches are planning the game,” Love told ESPN. “I take notes on other teams’ plays that look good.”

Love will then send these pieces to LaFleur and his staff. How many of Love’s suggested plays are in the game plan each week?

“Sometimes they make it,” Love said. “Sometimes that’s not the case.”

The best recent example of this was a 25-yard pass to Watson in the Week 11 win at Chicago. While LaFleur revealed after the game that the game came about at the suggestion of Robert Saleh, who started as a consultant for the Packers after being fired as head coach by the Jets earlier in the season, Love was also involved in the planning.

“Jordan texted that play and said, ‘I think Christian’s matchup against a linebacker is going to be great, we need to take advantage of that,'” Packers passing game coordinator Jason Vrable said.

That has happened more often this season, Vrable said.

“Maybe his first year is just trying to do his job,” Vrable said. “Sophomore year, I think when we talk about third downs or what we like, that communication, that growth, Jordan says, ‘I like that, but I like that even more.’ Unlike Class 1, a lot of guys just want to please people instead of saying how you really feel.”

Although Love has become more assertive since it worked in his favor against the Lions last season, he did it with respect. So far there have been no subtle hints of game calls or game plans that didn’t work. And rarely, if ever, do you see someone getting frustrated with another player during a game.

In fact, Myers, one of Love’s closest friends on the team, couldn’t imagine ever having knocked out one of Love’s teammates.

Not even behind closed doors.

“I actually didn’t,” Myers said.

In this respect, Love differed from Rodgers.

“Yeah, well, give him, what, 14 more years,” joked Myers, who played with Rodgers for two seasons, “and we’ll see.”

When Love heard about Myers’ comment, she giggled heartily.

“I think that’s true,” Love said. “I was here with Aaron but I wasn’t with him when he started but he probably wasn’t the same player or didn’t react the same way. I think a lot of it is when you were there. “When you play for that long, you demand greatness and you want people to be locked in when they’re not.”

---

THERE IS REASON FOR THIS I think love could never change.

In fact, Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander said he told Love to be tougher on his teammates.

“I’m trying to get him to understand some of this ‘ARRRRRRRGH’,” Alexander said with a scowl on his face. “I try to tell him to get his ass off when those receivers drop the ball.”

According to Sanford, that would be out of character for Love.

“My favorite trait in a leader, especially at the quarterback position, is authenticity,” Sanford said. “Jordan is a real guy. Here’s what I see: I see that the Packers have a huge fan base, and when something is wrong, they just want to see their quarterback Romeo Doubs get his ass kicked for dropping a ball that led to it.” a selection.

“That’s not Jordan. Jordan will have the conversation, but he won’t go out of his way to make people think, ‘I’m a really tough leader and I can have difficult conversations.’ And there is so much of that in football.

This does not mean that love avoids confrontation.

“He’s a competitor, and if someone makes a mistake even though he knows he’s capable of more, I’m sure he’ll say something in his own way,” LaFleur said.

---

THE CREATION OF Love’s rise to star quarterback status is debatable. Some may think he isn’t there yet, despite securing the NFL’s second-largest contract thanks to the four-year, $220 million contract extension he signed in July.

But for those who believe he is among the elite, enlightenment may have come with the 29-22 victory in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day 2023.

If the previous week’s win over the Chargers – a 322-yard, two-touchdown game that included a 24-yard scoring pass to Doubs with 2:33 minutes to play – was the moment things changed for Love changed, then the win over the Lions reinforced it.

It was part of his regular season finish with 18 touchdowns and one interception that convinced the Packers that he was their franchise quarterback.

“That was a big deal,” Myers said. “I think it was right at the beginning when (the Packers) really took off. I think that got us in the right direction and we’ve played good football for the most part since then. Great moment.” . Cool moment.”