On both of Jordan Love’s touchdown tosses last week, progress should’ve captured the (even inexperienced) eye. Both we longer touch passes on post routes that are nearly impossible to defend, but require a very good throw. The offense looked like it was moving down the field with some rhythm and consistency that’s been missing for essentially the entire season.

Continued Struggles

Steelers 23, Packers 19: the Packers allowed 205 yards rushing on 36 attempts (5.7 yards/carry). That’s trouble for a multitude of reasons. 1. Pittsburgh was able to run the ball at will, and they were leading almost the entire game, taking the ball out of the Packers’ hands. The first two drives of the game, while the first one was bailed out on a defensive pass interference call (which was questionable), Pittsburgh still cut right through the Packers’ defense enroute to the end zone.

The “good” news is Green Bay’s defense held Pittsburgh to 4 of 13 on 3rd downs, which should be good enough to keep you in the game – which was the case. However, the 5 penalties and 2 turnovers ended up being the difference, as it will likely continue to be with an inexperienced team. The other piece of good news, is after the first two Steeler TD drives, the Packers gave up166 total yards on 35 plays over the last 38:08 of the game, surrendering 9 points in that time span.

The progression is beginning to filter through in whom Love targets. For instance, he’s damn near a Pro Bowl QB when targeting anyone but Christian Watson. With that being said, while I’d like to see Watson be far more assertive in attacking the football when thrown his way, he does have an effect on the game as he’s one of the most double-covered wideouts in the NFL based on the chart below:

He is average-ish in separation in single coverage routes, but draw the most-double teams…so there’s something to that. Is that progress? Maybe. However, if he begins attacking the ball and Love is able to lead him a bit more on those sideline throws (especially in the end zone), he could become a premier weapon in the NFL…time will tell.

Week 11: (4-5) Los Angeles Chargers @ (3-6) Green Bay Packers

The Chargers have been notorious for having arguably one of the most talented teams in the NFL for years, especially since Herbert’s arrival in 2020. However, his career record is 29-29. They’re the epitome of mediocre. Very similar to the Packers in sense that they have immense talent, but they just don’t know how to tie wins together. The Packers last year were hampered by old vets and this year the inverse; complete inexperience. The Chargers are far more difficult to figure out. There are many articles highlighting Players To Watch, yet I won’t because you could list 13 players, which begs the question, “Who should we watch out for?”

How is this team so Average?

	LAC Off.	(rank)	vs.	GB Def.	(rank)
Rush	100.8	22nd		133.0	27th
Pass	249.1	8th		187.6	7th
Total	349.9	11th		320.6	11th
Pts	26.6	7th		20.2	T-11th
	LAC Def.			GB Off.
Rush	102.0	12th		102.1	21st
Pass	291.2	32nd		208.9	19th
Total	393.2	31st		311.0	21st
Pts	23.9	24th		19.9	21st
T/O	LAC			GB
Takeaways	15	T-9th		8	T-29th
Giveaways	7	1st		12	T-13th
Diff.	8	T-3rd		-4	T-24th

They aren’t great at running the ball, even though they have one of the better running backs in the NFL (#30 Austin Ekeler), however they can score (7th in scoring offense), so the matchup when Herbert is under center should be fairly even…maybe.

If there ever was a matchup where Love can go off, it’s this one. The Chargers have the worst pass defense and the penultimate total defense. Green Bay should be able to get yards through the air, but LA does have Safety, Derwin James Jr. (#3) and Cornerback, Asante Samuel Jr. (#26) in the defensive backfield and each (especially James) can cause issues in the passing game. Also, as bad as a defense as LA has, they’re T-3rd in turnover differential (+8). Green Bay has been awful in that department since Week 2. Again, as a Packer fan, we’d like to see the Packers finish the season with at least a 0 difference in turnovers, ideally in the positive.

The other item is LA doesn’t possess the ball all that long, much like Green Bay. That’s due to their defense being atrocious. LA ranks 24th with an avg time of possession at 28:48/game where the Packers are up to 26th at 28:20/game.

All in all, until Green Bay proves they can score touchdowns, consistently, it’d be irresponsible for me (or anyone) to pick them to win – that doesn’t mean I don’t think they can win or that I don’t want them to.

Chargers 31 (-3.0)
Packers 23

Season: 4-5
Overall: 91-57