GREEN BAY – Last year, these scenarios didn't go right in Vegas, in Denver, in Pittsburgh, nor in San Francisco.
Not that Packers quarterback Jordan Love didn't have his share of clutch, fourth-quarter possessions in 2023, because he did. And no QB is ever going to come through all the time.
But Love certainly delivered Sunday, shaking off several miscues and stalled drives to move the Packers 44 yards in 1 minute, 41 seconds, with the game on the line. He left three ticks for new kicker Brandon McManus to drill a 45-yard walk-off field goal for a 24-22 triumph over Houston at Lambeau Field.
"It's huge," Love said of putting together a drive like that at crunch time. "That's one of the biggest areas we tried to improve on from last year.
"We came up short too many times in these two-minute drill situations. It's definitely been something that we focused on."
The key to this opportunity was no penalties or negative plays. Love got the offense to the outer edge of field-goal range with about a minute left.
But the Texans had started dialing up some pressure looks, so after Romeo Doubs hauled in a 12-yard slant to get to the Houston 37-yard line, Love and Head Coach Matt LaFleur paused to take a deep breath.
LaFleur didn't want to use his last timeout at that point, but he wanted to settle things down and make sure the offense had the right protection calls for the potential pressures, keeping everyone on the same page.
The clock ran down to 27 seconds before the next snap, and the delay might've gotten Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. anxious. He jumped offside, providing a free five yards.
One more short completion to Doubs moved the field goal inside 50 yards, and that last timeout came in awfully handy.
"He showed great poise and the ability to lead us down in the most critical moment," LaFleur said of Love.
Both coach and quarterback mentioned that type of finish as a confidence-builder for the team. It also showed that quality Love has of blocking out anything bad that's happened – in this game, two early interceptions and three second-half three-and-outs – to simply focus on the moment and what it calls for.
His first interception looked like a telegraphed throw on a routine third-down stop route. The second was an overthrow on an aggressive opening play to start a drive, for which LaFleur criticized himself for the play call against that particular Houston coverage.
But Love also rifled a 14-yard TD pass through a super tight window to a diving Tucker Kraft for the Packers' first points of the game. He later hustled up to the line to catch the Houston defense pondering a replay challenge and then dropped a pretty 30-yard TD into Dontayvion Wicks' hands down the near sideline.
There's give and take with Love's game, and it's worth remembering this was just his 25th NFL start, playoffs included. He's still figuring out what he can and can't do, but whatever happens, the one thing he won't be is intimidated.
"You just gotta play the game," Love said. "You've gotta go out there and play it. You can't try and not be aggressive and take checkdowns all day. You've got to be out there and be aggressive and go win those games. I'm always going to play the way I play, and learn from mistakes, and grow from them."
Put another way, he will keep trying difficult throws because on plenty of plays there are no easy ones. Not in this league. There's obviously a fine line between tough throws and risky ones, between trying to make a play and being careless with the ball.
No quarterback is going to have all those answers after just two dozen starts. As they all do, Love is learning on the fly.
"It's the NFL," Love said. "There's not always going to be wide-open guys. You've got to fit the ball in there sometimes.
"I'm going to keep playing … just keep playing, keep moving on. That's not going to ever limit me. I've got to keep going out there and being the best player I can for my team."
He was when he had to be Sunday. When he walked into the huddle with 1:44 left, trailing by a point, the obvious was at hand.
"We knew what it was," Love said. "It was just go win the game."
