Jordan Love did not see what happened when Christian Watson ran back onto the field on Thursday night. He only heard it. “A lot of people cheering and stuff was going on. I didn’t know what was happening,” the Green Bay Packers quarterback said after the 27-19 win over the Carolina Panthers. “I see Christian running out and he was just resurrected. So it was great to see him.”
Watson had been taken to a hospital in the second quarter after landing on the ball at the end of a 53-yard catch, and he came back to finish the game with a broken rib. Love said he never stopped looking for him. “Early on it was to find him the ball. He was making plays,” Love said. “That’s just what Christian is capable of on every play. Being able to take the top off.” He added: “Keep putting this in his hands and he’s gonna keep making plays for us. So obviously once we got him back, it was nice, just get him back out there with how he was rolling.”
Love finished 30 of 41 for 288 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, and he was not sacked. Watson caught eight passes for 113 yards. Green Bay is 5-3.
“Just a bad decision by me”
The Packers led 27-13 early in the fourth quarter and had reached the Carolina 27 when Love threw deep for Matthew Golden, and Zakee Wheatley intercepted the pass at the 2. Carolina scored a touchdown later in the quarter to make it a one-score game. Love blamed himself. “That’s really the play that is going to haunt me from that game,” he said. “I saw him go inside on the route and just really a bad decision by me. I left it way inside, post safety is able to come over and make an interception.”
“In that situation, you know, third down and field goal range, I’m really sick about that decision, putting the ball away and giving the ball to the defense,” Love said. “But that’s where I got to be better so we can put a team away and be able to go up multiple scores right there.”
He said the offense has to learn to close games. “Offensively we did some really good things, and I think obviously late in the game it wasn’t good enough,” he said. “We weren’t able to finish the way we wanted.”
“There’s so much more out there for us”
Love was asked if it is frustrating that the Packers keep winning without feeling like they have played their best. “That’s football. There’s gonna be highs and lows,” he said. “I feel like that for sure, that there’s so much more out there for us as offense. I’ve talked about that time after time and it just comes down to us executing and making plays out there.”
He called that the good part. “We know there’s more out there. We know we can be a lot better. We know we could put up more points. We got to find ways to do it,” Love said. “When you get into a game and you feel like you’re leaving stuff out there, in this game specifically, you feel like you can put a team away and we don’t, that’s frustrating for sure. But that’s football.”
The last time Green Bay played on a Thursday, it lost 35-14 at home to the Atlanta Falcons in September. Love said this short week went much better. “The way we came out and just executed today from the get-go was so much better than obviously we did last time we played a Thursday game,” he said. “You got to be able to execute, focus, lock into the game plan that we have, and we did a great job of that. And now you get to enjoy it.”
Jacobs, Kraft and the line
Josh Jacobs ran 21 times for only 39 yards, but he scored on a 1-yard run and caught a 4-yard touchdown pass. Love said the numbers do not tell the whole story. “It’s two games in for him. He’s missed a lot of games,” he said. “You look at the stats, our run game still isn’t, you know, where it needs to be. But yeah, he had two touchdowns tonight. So just looking at that, that’s what he’s capable of and that’s what he helps bring to the offense.”
Tight end Tucker Kraft caught six passes for 53 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown in the first quarter. “We know what Tucker’s capable of,” Love said. “I still think there’s more out there for us and, you know, getting the screen call back. I think there’s a lot more out there for him too, but it’s great to get him rolling.” He also praised a line that has moved players between positions in recent weeks: “Pass pro kept me clean.”
Love also congratulated the Milwaukee Brewers, who brought their World Series trophy to Lambeau Field a night after winning it. “It’s not easy and they did it,” he said. “That’s what obviously everyone’s chasing. We’re chasing that feeling.”
Through eight games, Love has thrown for 2,246 yards with 16 touchdown passes and six interceptions. The Packers have a long break before they visit the New England Patriots on Sunday, November 8, at 4:25 p.m. ET, which is 11:25 p.m. in Cairo.
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