Remember when the Green Bay Packers' season looked cooked after the first three weeks? Well, fans are being treated to some good all-around football as of late.
Just last week, the Packers picked up a huge win over the Carolina Panthers in primetime. Love had an incredible performance without a competent run game to fall back on, showing that he should be receiving some love for the NFL MVP award.
Well, one week later, and Love has another piece of evidence to add to his resume. On the road on Sunday, Love and the Packers easily defeated the New England Patriots 45-27. While the defense played a significant role in the victory by forcing four turnovers, Love had a nearly perfect game passing the ball, throwing for 372 yards and three touchdowns while completing 23 of 29 pass attempts.
With this latest performance, Love should seriously be considered one of the favorites to win the NFL MVP award.
Jordan Love's insane performance vs. Patriots increases NFL MVP chances
Yes, Love had a huge outing against the Patriots, with the 372 yards and three touchdowns to his credit. But there are some other statistics that really show just how dominant he was in picking apart the Patriots' secondary.
For any quarterback facing the Patriots, they usually have to do their best to avoid throwing to the area that cornerback Christian Gonzalez is covering. He's shown in a short amount of time that he is one of the best corners in the game. Yet, Love was not afraid of him. According to Pro Football Focus, Gonzalez allowed 10 receptions for 187 yards and a touchdown. Is that good? That seems good?
Love primarily targeted wide receivers Christian Watson and Matthew Golden in the game. Watson secured seven catches for 171 yards and a touchdown, while Golden caught 10 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown.
As Doug Clawson of CBS Sports pointed out, Love completed 17 of 18 pass attempts to Watson and Golden for 335 yards. Additionally, those passes traveled an average of 17 yards downfield. That is truly incredible by Love. It seemed like every time he threw a pass deep downfield, it was right on the money for Watson or Golden.
Per Next Gen Stats, Love completed six of eight passes for 235 yards and a touchdown on passes of 20-plus air yards. This is now the second time this season that Love has completed six passes of 20-plus air yards.
Where does Jordan Love stand in the NFL MVP conversation?
Unfortunately for Love, he hasn't received much recognition for his play so far this season. The focus was primarily on the quarterbacks of winning football teams. The three main favorites have been Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers, and Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Allen has yet to play in Week 9, as he's set to play the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night. Purdy threw for 232 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception while completing 17 of 25 pass attempts in the 49ers' 38-17 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. Burrow, meanwhile, threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns while completing 24 of 29 pass attempts.
The thing is, Love leads the NFL in passing yards with 2,618. Not to mention, he's managing to do this while playing behind a banged-up offensive line and without an adequate, complementary run game.
So, all Love has to do is keep pace to continue to have a shot at the award. That also means the Packers need to keep up their winning ways. And yes, that means defeating their NFC North foes in their second head-to-head matchups against the Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, and Detroit Lions. That, and he'll need Allen, Purdy, and Burrow to have awful performances down the road.
It's unknown if Love will have a decent shot at the NFL MVP award by season's end, but there's no denying that he deserves to be in the conversation.
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