Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers have posted some pretty similar numbers to start their stints as the Packers’ QB1.
The Green Bay Packers have been doing alright at the beginning of the Jordan Love era. They’re still in the playoff hunt despite being a very young team and Love had had flashes of brilliance. He’s still no Aaron Rodgers…well, unless you’re one to cherry-pick certain stats.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter pointed out that, through their first 11 games as the Packers’ starting quarterback, Rodgers and Love have wildly similar stats. They each tallied 2,599 passing yards, 21 total touchdowns and a 5-6 record.
While that is a pretty neat coincidence, Schefter’s stat pull is a bit dubious. He specifies that it’s their stats through their first 11 games as the Packers’ starting quarterback and not their first 11 starts, which excuses the one start Love made as a rookie. Basically, he just means the first 11 games they were QB1. He also insists that Love has matched Rodgers’ success to this point, which disregards the era each guy played in. Offenses were not as gaudy in 2008 as they are now.
Upon further examination of Rodgers’ stats and Love’s stats, it’s clear that Rodgers has the upper hand. The OG’s sample of games has the lead in completion percentage (63.51 percent to 60.48 percent), quarterback rating (90.5 to 87.4) and adjusted yards per pass attempt (7.06 to 6.8) while also getting sacked one fewer time and throwing one fewer interception, though he also had two more fumbles.
Love also has an advantage in passing touchdowns (19 to 17), rushing yards (221 to 162) and fumbles lost (zero to three). The Packers back then had star wideouts Greg Jennings and Donald Driver helping Rodgers. That’s a far cry from the assortment of receivers Love has, each of whom that has 300 receiving yards so far this season is under 25 years old.
Schefter does make the obvious point that Love still has a long way to go before establishing himself as a superstar like Rodgers was. Those lofty expectations still linger as Love follows Rodgers’ footsteps. The Packers’ young quarterback is still coming along and impressing his coaches and teammates. Even if he never reaches the peaks that Rodgers does, he can hold down the job for years to come and help Green Bay compete.
