Struggling Raiders defense gives Jordan Love chance to show out

Monday's game provides Jordan Love and the Packers offense with a chance to level up their production and efficiency.

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When quarterback Jordan Love needed to have it against one of the NFL’s best defenses in his Lambeau Field debut, he made the offense burn and churn. He was the engine, not Matt LaFleur’s scheme or a superlative group of pass catchers. When the defense struggled in a prime-time matchup against an NFC contender, Love found a way to fight back in the second half and at least made a game of it without key offensive linemen and his two best playmakers working on pitch counts.

Monday night against a struggling Las Vegas Raiders defense hardly serves as a referendum on Love’s ability. Still, it does provide a cushier matchup with his skill players getting healthy to show why the Green Bay Packers have so much faith in him.

Wideout Christian Watson and running back Aaron Jones’ return to the lineup didn’t solve everything for the Packers offense against the Detroit Lions. A defensive disaster got LaFleur and Love off script and took the run game out of play almost immediately, particularly when the plan going into that game relied heavily on attacking the Lions’ more vulnerable passing defense.

With a mini-bye under their belt, expect Watson and Jones to be bigger parts of the gameplan against the Raiders. The matchup sets up the Packers to run the ball effectively against an overmatched front, and as Jason noted earlier in the week, schemed-up touches for Watson could help jump-start the offense early in games when they’ve struggled this season to find continuity.

It helps to face a Raiders defense that will be one of the least obstructive the Packers will face all season. Las Vegas enters Monday night 28th in defensive DVOA (28th versus the pass), 30th in EPA per play, and 30th in dropback EPA.

They’re, in a word, bad.