One specific ability from Jordan Love has been a pleasant surprise for the Packers

The volume of mistakes was probably the main reason why quarterback Jordan Love fell to the end of the first round in the 2020 NFL Draft. During his last season at Utah State, Love had an awful 20:17 touchdown to interception ratio. But the Green Bay Packers trusted what they saw, and what Love had shown in 2018, in which he had 32 TDs and six interceptions when the situation around him was better.

Getting into the NFL, the expectation was that Love would have high highs and low lows. And that was reinforced with his first appearances in preseason and regular season games — combining that, even in a small sample size, Love had had eight interceptions before becoming the full-time starter.

Surprisingly, though, not only was Love an efficient passer, he also avoided mistakes at an impressive level.

What the stats say

Interceptions and sacks are basically the two worst types of regular plays for an offense. And Jordan Love was one of the three best quarterbacks in football last year, alongside Geno Smith and CJ Stroud, in EPA lost in those types of plays.

"I can't say enough great things about him," head coach Matt LaFleur said during the last month of the regular season. "Just his ability to hang in there versus some tough looks. Drifting away from pressure. Putting the ball in play. Allowing his guys to go make plays. I think he's playing at an incredibly high level. Super happy for him because he's put in a ton of work to get to this point."

In 2023, Jordan Love had a turnover-worthy play rate of just 2.6%, which is an extremely solid number for NFL levels. That's less, for example, than Aaron Rodgers had in 2022 (2.9%) and Patrick Mahomes did last year (2.9%).

Love finished up the season with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, a 96.1 passer rating for his first season as a full-time starter. In the playoffs, Love had five touchdowns and two interceptions in two games, a 108.6 passer rating.

Positives and negatives

This outcome is close to a best-case scenario for Jordan Love. He avoided mistakes, and at the same time was one of the most effective passers in the league. By EPA/play, Love was fifth, only behind Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott, Josh Allen, and Tua Tagovailoa. He was also tied for fourth in air yards, meaning that the ball traveled a lot by average (8.5), only less than CJ Stroud, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen.

"There are new challenges coming forward this year and beyond, but the way he's represented this organization and this team as a leader, we couldn't be happier about," Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told SiriusXM earlier this week. "Certainly, he played at a very, very high level in the second half of last year, and I think the sky is the limit for him."