25 September 2023 , 13:00
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love repeated franchise history in Sunday's 18-17 win over the New Orleans Saints.
Love led the team to a thrilling late comeback on his first career start at Lambeau Field. The Packers were down 17-0 to start the fourth and final quarter, and after an Anders Carlson field goal from 38 yards a minute in to chip away at the deficit, Love got to work.
With under seven minutes left, the fourth-year player ran for a one-yard touchdown before finding his wide receiver Samori Toure to complete a two-point conversion pass. Then, inside the final three minutes, Love threw the game-tying eight-yard touchdown for receiver Romeo Doubs.
Carlson kicked the resulting conversion to give Green Bay a one-point lead they held onto for the win. Packers quarterback Love threw for a season-high 259 yards, albeit with a 50% completion rate.
Mounting such a comeback in their home opener is something the organisation is all too familiar with. In 2018, Aaron Rodgers led the franchise to their only other 17-point fourth-quarter comeback against divisional rivals the Chicago Bears.
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Fresh from signing a four-year, $134 million offseason extension, the then-two-time MVP played through a nagging knee injury to throw for 286 yards and three touchdowns. Green Bay rallied for another one-point victory, winning 24-23.
That was the start of Rodgers setting an NFL record for the lowest interception percentage in a season at only 0.3%. Love still has a shot of history repeating itself in this regard, but he did have his first pass of the season picked off against the Saints.
Love and Rodgers were Packers teammates for three years before the latter's offseason trade to the New York Jets (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)One fact that no one can take away from the 2020 first-round pick is that he has already topped the quarterback Rodgers succeeded, Brett Favre, on one front. The Pro Football Hall of Famer never overcame a deficit of over 15 in any of his 326 career games across 20 seasons.
Love was a surprise first round draft pick by the Packers in 2020 and has spent three season behind Rodgers before being given his chance. Merely having his name in the same conversation as the Green Bay greats, three games into his first season as the starting quarterback bodes well for the future.
However, he will hope that there are not many more times the Packers need themselves pulling out of any such sizeable hole.
"To be able to turn it around, start putting some drives together and start getting some points, it felt great," Love told reporters afterwards. "The energy in that stadium was awesome.
"We got our fans and team going, so I think that's exactly what we needed right there." The quarterback added: "It's always about how the game ends.
"It felt great at the end. That's all I can say. It felt really good at the end."
It is fair to assume that the Packers also feel really good after witnessing a clutch performance from the man they hope is to be their new franchise QB. Their infamous quarterback succession planning is looking good again, as it last did in 2008.