Welcome to the Quarterback Notebook, where I’ll cover the past week in NFL quarterbacking – from the most interesting passers, plays and storylines to some other stuff that caught my eye while watching film this week.
This week, we’ll look at Jordan Love’s mastery of the Packers offense, take a deep dive into Drake Maye’s interceptions, and make the case for Shedeur Sanders to start for the Browns.
Let’s talk quarterbacks.
Like anyone else who watched the Packers beat the Patriots on Sunday – including Tom Brady – I was in awe of Jordan Love’s performance.
Love made several jaw-dropping throws, but one in particular stood out to me and has me ready to start throwing around the E-word when I talk about the 28-year-old. But before we get to that play, a little story time…
In 2023, I traveled to Green Bay for Packers training camp to interview Jordan Love for a story I was writing about him ahead of his first season as the team’s starter. Many of my questions focused on his development up to that point, which had mostly taken place behind the scenes, with Love spending his first three NFL seasons on the bench behind Aaron Rodgers.
One of Love’s biggest hurdles was honing his footwork when taking dropbacks from under center. At Utah State, Love played in a boilerplate spread offense that operated out of the shotgun, so he had to learn the footwork from the ground up.
“It needed a lot of work,” Love told me then. “It was sloppy at first. But through all those repetitions, throughout the four years I’ve been here, it’s been a work in progress, and now I’m confident. It feels natural.”
To get to that point without the benefit of game reps, Love told me he pored over film of his under-center dropbacks from practice and exhibition games, looking for ways to improve and to trim the fat from his process. “With him, it was throwing with anticipation and then footwork,” Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich told me. “You could see him gradually clean things up [with his feet] so he was throwing on time.”
Love’s outrageous arm talent was always apparent, but his development ultimately hinged on his ability to pick up and eventually master the footwork and timing of Green Bay’s version of the West Coast offense. If he could combine his otherworldly throwing ability with a mastery of the Packers offense, there was no ceiling on what he could become.
Fast-forward to 2026: Love is now in his fourth season, and I’m still not sure where to place his ceiling. The 28-year-old has developed into one of the league’s best quarterbacks and is showing his next-level mastery of the Packers offense every week.
Love’s 28-yard completion to Christian Watson early in the third quarter on Sunday illustrates that mastery – and the progress he’s made with his footwork and timing. Green Bay comes out in an under-center formation. As the offense gets lined up, you can see Love scanning the field, looking for any tell that gives away the Patriots’ coverage.
He sees cornerback Christian Gonzalez go across the field to line up against Matthew Golden. He sees linebacker Christian Ellis inching closer and closer to the line of scrimmage. He sees just one safety deep. All this tells Love the Patriots are likely playing a form of man coverage some coaches call “man free.” You have man coverage across the field and one safety deep behind a five-man rush.
Love knows the pass-protection scheme might give him issues off the right side – which is typically the case given the offensive line’s performance this season – with the protection sliding away from Ellis’ blitz path and a tight end responsible for sealing the edge against an outside linebacker.
The play also has Love faking a handoff to both his running back and the receiver on the “orbit” motion, giving the rush even more time to cave in the right side of his protection as he turns his back to the defense. This is a very precarious position for the quarterback, but Love knows exactly what to do. He speeds up his dropback while fading to his left, and as soon as he’s done faking, he’s ready to throw.
With Watson running a crossing route away from the cornerback’s outside leverage, Love doesn’t have to wait for his receiver to get open to know where the ball needs to go.
After doing all that mental work, Love still has to execute and, boy, did he. Just look at this beauty of a throw.
The list of quarterbacks who can flip their hips and immediately make a cross-field throw (that traveled 43.8 yards through the air, per Next Gen Stats) without really stepping into it while an unblocked defender is bearing down on them is about five names long. The list of quarterbacks who can do it after processing all that information and knowing exactly how to respond is even shorter.
Love’s name is on that shortlist, which includes only the game’s elite passers. Based on his progress over the last three years and his play in 2026, Love is right at home in that company.
Drake Maye’s day didn’t go nearly as well as Love’s. The Patriots quarterback reverted to his early-season ways, tossing three interceptions and ruining any chance for his team to stay competitive.
That brought his season total to 11 interceptions, tying him for the league lead, and sparked another round of debates over whether Maye is actually any good or just the product of an easy schedule. I am firmly in the “actually good” camp, but I’m not going to pretend that him throwing 11 interceptions in just nine games isn’t a bad thing.
But pointing at his bloated interception total while ignoring the other promising numbers on his resume and saying “that’s bad” doesn’t really tell us much about who he is as a player or where he needs to improve. Instead, let’s look at those mistakes and see if we can find any patterns that tell about the state of Maye’s game and where he needs to improve. To do so, I’ve categorized all the interceptions he’s thrown in 2026.
The ‘Trusted His Receiver In Tight Coverage’ Interception (2)
I’d be least concerned with these interceptions. In both cases, Maye gives his receiver a chance against man coverage, and in both cases, the defensive back makes a better play on the ball.
Here, Maye expects Kyle Williams to work back to the ball. Instead, Williams lets the cornerback do that for him.
This one is for Williams as well. Maye gives him a chance to win a 50/50 ball, but the corner wins the aerial duel, and the ball is deflected into the arms of the safety working over the top.
That Maye feels the need to target Williams in tight coverage says more about New England’s receiving talent.
The ‘Bad Ball’ Interception (2)
Not much analysis is needed on these two picks. Maye makes the correct decision, and a better throw would have resulted in a completion in both cases.
This is another unlucky bounce, but Maye made Romeo Doubs’ job way harder than it had to be after he won on a slant route.
Here’s another good decision with tight end Eli Raridon beating a linebacker up the seam. Unfortunately, Maye leaves the throw well short. If he drops it over Raridon’s shoulder, it’s a touchdown.
I’d be more concerned about these if Maye hadn’t already proven to be one of the NFL’s most accurate passers. Every quarterback in the league will throw a handful of these per season.
The ‘Bad Peripheral Vision’ Interception (3)
These are the interceptions that Maye has to eliminate from his game if he’s ever going to reach elite status. It will require improved field vision and a sharper understanding of coverages. That typically comes with more experience.
On this one, Maye doesn’t see the backside safety poaching DeMario Douglas’ route and throws it right into his path. It’s fairly common coverage from Seattle, so Maye should have been prepared for it.
I’m not sure if this next one actually belongs in this category. It could just as easily go into the “bad ball” bucket. Either way, Maye has to see the linebacker sinking under Hunter Henry’s route and go somewhere else with the ball.
Here, Maye assumes the safety will run with the clear-out route and doesn’t see him sitting on Raridon’s crosser.
The ‘Bozo Moment’ Interception (4)
There is no explaining or defending these decisions. Maye just threw them up for grabs, and the defender came down with them.
This was Maye’s first interception of the season, and it’s easily his worst from a decision-making standpoint. The Seahawks have a safety over the top of Doubs’ go route and a cornerback sinking underneath it. Making matters worse, Maye’s checkdown option is wide open underneath.
This next one cost New England the game. The Pats trail by a field goal in the final minutes and are deep in Seattle territory. For whatever reason, Maye throws up a back-foot jump ball to Mack Hollins and can’t get enough on it.
Here’s another back-foot YOLO ball that cost his team points. Maye sees Travis Hunter’s back turned and tosses it up to the back of the end zone. Hunter has plenty of time to turn around and find it in the air.
I’ve seen some people defend this pick by pointing out that Hollins stopped on his route. While that certainly made the interception easier for the defender, it’s still a poor decision by Maye. He’s throwing back across his body, and the safety is already driving on Hollins’ route before the ball is thrown.
I don’t think the Patriots will ever fully coach these moments out of Maye. He’s a playmaker at his core, and while these gambles can turn into ugly interceptions on occasion, Maye is capable of hitting these throws more often than not. Gunslingers like Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford are similar. Their teams will happily live with the trade-off, and I’m sure New England feels the same way.
After studying these plays, I don’t think Maye has an interception problem. Most of his problematic picks came at the beginning of the season, and we haven’t seen many repeated mistakes. He’s also been a bit unlucky compared to other passers. Pro Football Focus has charged him with 13 turnover-worthy plays, fewer than Love, Josh Allen, and Trevor Lawrence, all of whom are in the thick of the MVP race.
Look, I’m not the biggest fan of Shedeur Sanders’ game, but I do find his willingness to push the ball downfield admirable, and it could be a real asset for a Browns team being led by its defense. If the offense can just muster a few explosives per game, that should be enough to keep the team competitive. It appears that Sanders gives the offense a better chance to do that.
Cleveland’s offense was as explosive as it’s been all season in the overtime loss to the Saints. While his receiving corps did a lot of the heavy lifting on those plays, it was Sanders who gave them the opportunity to do so – even if it meant taking a big hit.
Deshaun Watson isn’t pushing the ball downfield like that. The veteran is more willing to take what the defense gives him underneath, but that’s offset by his tendency to run himself into sacks. It’s difficult to sustain a dink-and-dunk approach when the quarterback is taking those drive-ending losses. The same goes for Sanders, who holds onto the ball for an eternity, but at least he does it in an effort to make plays.
It’s been nearly a week, and I’m still not over this throw Trevor Lawrence made in Jacksonville’s win over the Ravens last Thursday night. That throw required quick processing, anticipation, arm strength, and accuracy. So pretty much all the hallmarks of elite quarterback play.
It was difficult to pick just one throw from Carson Wentz’s disaster-class on Monday night, but throwing a screen pass so poorly that it turns into a fumble is quite the accomplishment.
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