Packers QB Jordan Love “is playing his best ball right now”

GREEN BAY – After Packers quarterback Jordan Love missed a turkey game following last Thanksgiving’s win at Detroit, he and his teammates were determined to make sure Love got his just reward this year.

Mission accomplished, and the way Love held up his turkey leg as he walked toward the Lambeau Field tunnel after Thursday night’s 30-17 win over Miami looked like a trophy that meant a lot to him.

“It was very tasty,” Love said with a pretty big smile at the podium after the game.

Well, Love’s play has been pretty darn good lately, too, and that’s a big reason why the Packers have put themselves in a good position at 9-3 in December.

Since getting healthy during the bye week, which helped heal Love’s knee and groin injuries, he has posted passer ratings of 113.0, 107.7 and 129.2 in his last three games. And that’s after he only managed a triple-digit passer rating in his first seven starts of the season.

That mark was Thursday night’s number, his best of the year, and it ended a streak of now 10 consecutive quarters in which Love didn’t throw an interception and the Packers’ offense didn’t turn the ball over.

“I think he’s playing his best ball right now, I really do,” head coach Matt LaFleur said of his quarterback. “I think he did a great job of taking in what was there, doing the check-ups when they were there, or taking the shots when they were there.”

LaFleur added that the focus on “Love” was to emphasize solid fundamentals and let the rest emerge. It seems to be working, and it’s certainly easier to play fundamentally strong when your legs are healthy than when Love struggled with them for most of the first half of the season.

Love’s efficiency is reflected throughout the offense as well, and there’s a lot to like about the way this unit has been playing lately.

“We’re building a good offense right now,” Love said. “We get into this rhythm, find this groove and just have to stay consistent.”

The ride isn’t entirely smooth yet – the offense had three more penalties on Thursday night, two of them false starts in the first half – but it’s starting to look like it’s starting to resemble last year’s late season.