GREEN BAY – Before receiver Bo Melton slipped on a rain-soaked Lambeau Field late in the first half Sunday, which led to Jordan Love's only interception, here were Love's numbers through the first 28-plus minutes of the runaway victory over the Cardinals:
15-of-21, 194 yards, three TDs, 139.7 passer rating.
Yeah, he's back.
But the most impressive thing about Love dominating the Cardinals the way he did was how easy it looked, and it looked so easy because the pass protection, particularly early on, was flawless.
"The O-line, they did a great job all day, keeping me clean," Love said. "I felt real comfortable in the pocket. Not a lot of pressure. Shout out to them."
That was most evident on the opening play of the Packers' third possession of the game, already leading 7-0.
Love dropped back off play-action and set up in the pocket. Then he looked, looked, and looked some more. He finally fired over the middle to Romeo Doubs for a 19-yard gain, jump-starting what became the second TD drive of the day.
"He probably had four hitches, which typically you have two hitches and the ball's got to go," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said, explaining the route is designed to be hit on the outside, but there was enough time for Doubs to come all the way across the field to get open.
"That doesn't happen unless your O-line gives Jordan all day to make that throw. That was a third-window throw. It's a big-time credit to the line, a big-time credit to Rome to keep going on the route, and then Jordan made a good throw."
It also set the stage for Doubs' biggest play of the game later. Tired of watching Love sit back in the pocket and pick them apart, the Cardinals started dialing up blitzes in the second half. Repeatedly.
So on third-and-4 from the Arizona 20 late in the third quarter, here they came, and Love was unfazed. Drifting away from the free rusher, Love knew he had Doubs one-on-one down the far sideline and heaved the ball in his direction.
Doubs saw it all the way, while the Arizona defender with his back turned did not. Doubs adjusted, made the catch near the front pylon, and scored for the second time in the game. It was Love's fourth TD pass as he finished with 258 yards through the air and a 119.5 rating.
"That was just guys out there making plays," LaFleur said, admitting he didn't give Love a very good play call against that blitz.
But it turned out to be the perfect way to make a defense pay for getting over-aggressive out of exasperation for not getting near the quarterback earlier in the game.
"It's usually pretty frustrating," LaFleur said of Arizona feeling forced to blitz, "if the guy's baking a pizza back there and has a long time to throw."
The play looked like one from a couple weeks ago against the Vikings that didn't turn out so well, when Love threw one up with a free rusher in his face that got intercepted.
The difference? The Vikings, leading the game at the time, surprised the Packers with that blitz, and their downfield defender was facing Love when he threw, so he could see the ball and follow it.
By late in the third quarter Sunday, the Packers were ready for any blitz the Cardinals were going to come with, and the defender had his back turned the whole time.
Be that as it may, having Love much closer to full strength from his Week 1 knee injury, as opposed to trying to play with it for the first time against the Vikings, mattered, too.
"I felt like … my normal self," Love said.
That's perhaps most important of all.
