Jordan Love leads the NFL with 2,246 passing yards through eight games, and the Green Bay Packers quarterback is having a season few in franchise history can match.
Love has thrown 16 touchdown passes, the fourth most in the league, and the Packers are 5-3 at the halfway point of the season. He is on pace for a career-high 4,772 passing yards, a Packers single-season record.
The numbers are all the more striking because Green Bay has almost no running game to lean on. The Packers have rushed for only 485 yards in eight games, and Love has carried the offence almost on his own.
Jordan Love needs one more touchdown pass to reach 100 for his career. He would do it in his 57th regular-season start, between two Packers greats: Aaron Rodgers reached 100 in his 55th start, and Brett Favre did it in his 61st.
Jordan Love numbers match Rodgers at his best
Jordan Love has 2,246 passing yards, the most by a Green Bay quarterback through the first eight games since Rodgers had 2,253 in 2020, when he won his third MVP award. His 16 touchdown passes are the most through eight games since Rodgers threw 17 in 2021, when he won his fourth.
Love and Rodgers are the only quarterbacks in Packers history with two or more touchdown passes in at least seven of the first eight games of a season. Rodgers did it three times.
Jordan Love has done it while throwing the ball more than any other quarterback in the league. Love leads the NFL with 312 passing attempts, and his 61.5 percent completion rate ranks 24th, below the league average of 64.2 percent.
He is one of only 12 quarterbacks to throw for at least 2,000 yards, 16 or more touchdown passes and six or fewer interceptions while completing 62.0 percent or lower through the first eight games of a season. The last to do it was Carson Wentz in 2017.
Love is also the first Packers quarterback not named Aaron Rodgers to record at least 2,000 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and fewer than six interceptions eight weeks into a season. Rodgers did it seven times.
Jordan Love carries a Packers offence with no run game
The Packers’ rushing attack has been poor by any measure. Green Bay is only the fourth team since 1992 to rush for 485 yards or fewer eight games into a season, joining the 2019 Cincinnati Bengals, the 2005 Philadelphia Eagles and the 2000 San Diego Chargers.
Green Bay is also the first team in NFL history to hold a winning record despite rushing for fewer than 500 yards in its first eight games. Since 1935, only 13 teams had done it, and they went a combined 18-86.
The Packers beat Carolina 27-19 in Week 8 despite a running game that barely moved and three turnovers. Jordan Love completed 30 of 41 passes for 288 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, for a passer rating of 106.6.
Love has had the least time to throw of any quarterback in the league, with 2.58 seconds from the pocket according to NFL Next Gen Stats. He has still produced explosive plays, and his deep ball has been one of the best in the league.
Head coach Matt LaFleur joked on Monday that everyone had been asking to turn Love loose, so the Packers are “letting him cook.”
What Jordan Love must do for a Super Bowl run
Patriots safety Kevin Byard called Love one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the league, and the praise has come from others too. Tom Brady, who will call Sunday’s game for FOX, praised Love’s growth during an appearance this week on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.”
The next test is a trip to New England on Sunday, Love’s first game at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots have won four of their last five games, and their run defence allows 92.6 yards per game, the sixth fewest in the league.
For Green Bay to make a real run at the Super Bowl, Jordan Love has to keep the passing game carrying the load while the run game finds some footing. The Packers cannot keep winning with a rushing attack this weak, and the defence has already done more than its share.
Jordan Love also has to keep the turnovers down. He threw an interception late against Carolina on a poor throw forced downfield, and those are the mistakes that decide playoff games.
The trip to New England is the next measure of where this team stands. Jordan Love has the numbers of a quarterback on a historic run, and the next nine games will show whether the rest of the team can keep up with him.