GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers made the Miami Dolphins look silly on Thursday night because quarterback Jordan Love stretched their defense like Silly Putty.
Over the course of the season, no quarterback has thrown deep with greater frequency than Love. Against the Dolphins, however, a big percentage of his passing yards came after the catch.
That ability to stretch the defense vertically while picking up a bunch of what coach Matt LaFleur calls “leaky yards” on underneath passes could make the Packers’ passing attack double trouble down the stretch.
“When you’re running guys deep, the defense has to respect that,” Love said on Sunday, four days before a Thursday night showdown at the Detroit Lions. “Then if they do, they’re going to stay on top and it’s definitely going to create more room from the second and third levels.
“So, that’s when you can find those underneath guys. You make one guy miss, there’s a lot of room between you and the next man. That’s what we try to take advantage of on some of those plays. If they’re not respecting the deep balls, we’ll just take the underneath stuff and let these guys go eat.”
Love was 21-of-28 passing for 274 yards against the Dolphins. By our count, 190 yards came after the catch with the aid of 11 broken tackles. Both were season highs. That just about matched Pro Football Focus’ tally of 187 YAC and 10 missed tackles.
The leading receivers against the Dolphins were tight end Tucker Kraft (six receptions for 78 yards) and running back Josh Jacobs (four receptions for 74 yards). That’s 152 yards. Those passes went 20 yards downfield.