Willis is Not Better Than Love
So first let me start off by saying that this is not a dig on Malik Willis. I’m very happy to have him, and he’s performed what we’ve needed from him beautifully. If we make the playoffs this year, it’ll be because he was able to get us some wins when Love was hurt and we would have likely otherwise lost if we had a lesser QB to step in.
That being said, there’s a vocal portion of Packer fans that seem to think we’d be better off if we got rid of Love, and started over with Willis. This is a BAD idea.
What I’ll have to say about Malik will be short. Because, quite frankly, we haven’t seen enough of him to have meaningful data, at least with Green Bay. But just going off what I’ve seen, he’s a “one read and run” style QB. He stares down the receiver the play is designed to go to, and if the receiver isn’t open, he tucks it and runs. This has proven serviceable against bad teams like the Colts, Titans, and Jags. But it isn’t going to bode well against teams much better.
Even if it did hold up to better teams, this strategy never lasts long in the NFL. Defenses eventually figure it out after a season, and it never works again. QB’s better known for scrambling seldom last more than a few seasons in the NFL before they become injured, or ineffective. I understand he’s new to the team and doesn’t know the playbook as well, and could also potentially be coached out of this behavior. But he’s also played a full season of games between 2 teams in his NFL career, and should have already been coached out of this.
Now we move on to Love. He had an astonishing 2nd half to his season last year, and he’s shown me enough to say that performance wasn’t a fluke. I can already hear people now…
“But…but…but… What about the interceptions?”
Don’t get me wrong. He’s thrown a couple stupid ones this year. He’s young, and has that gunslinger mentality. Those will happen. It makes me laugh that the biggest dis to Love is that he’s like Favre, as if people forget that they’re comparing him to a 1st ballot hall of famer.
But his troubles outside of injury start to become a little less his fault when you look at one important fact that some are still ignoring.
The Packers have 23 dropped passes this season. That’s tied for 2nd most in the NFL with the Browns. Throwing in traffic be damned, he’s still hitting his receivers first, but they’re all too often not coming down with the ball. Those 23 drops equate to more drops than the remaining 3 teams in our division have this season combined. That’s a BIG problem.
So why do I think these drops are so impactful?
Let’s cut those 23 drops down to 12, so about half. We’d still have more drops than any other team in our division. But suddenly drives aren’t stalling early. We have less 3 and outs. We have to settle for less field goals (many of which we’ve missed, and that’s a whole other conversation). We’d also have a few extra touchdowns. Just like that, Love isn’t having to play with as much desperation. He isn’t playing with the need to force a play where there isn’t one, and that’s where he’s getting into trouble.
As good as I believe Love to be, he still has a lot of growing to do. But if given the correct support, he’s got everything it takes to give us a Super Bowl, and a 3rd consecutive hall of fame QB.
If you think Malik is better, well, maybe you should stick to playing Madden…
COVER PHOTO CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS
