Breaking:DeMeco Ryans’ Jordan Love Hot Take Has A Bit Of Cold Truth

Emerging young quarterbacks always complicate the list. Last year, a pair of first-year starters lit the league on fire, one in each conference. On Sunday, they’ll go head to head when C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans travel to Lambeau Field to take on Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers.

People will overly read into the game’s result, including who between the two second-year starters gains the edge in the QB rankings. However, earlier this week, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans reminded us just how far fans and media tend to stray in their beliefs from league scouts, coaches, and executives. Ryans claimed Love will be “the best QB we’ve seen this year.” The quote became controversial because Houston has already played the Buffalo Bills and star signal-caller Josh Allen.

Allen has quickly ascended to league royalty. His massive frame, rocket arm, and dual-threat ability took only a couple of seasons to develop, and people rank the 28-year-old almost universally as a top-three quarterback alongside his AFC counterparts Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. Jackson and Allen haven’t eclipsed Mahomes in the slightest, but that’s hardly a factor concerning Love.

It’s a reminder that those on the front lines, those most dialed into the league’s activities, couldn’t care less what Colin Cowherd, Stephen A. Smith, or any of us think. We see that phenomenon reasserted annually at the draft when some of the media’s favorite players fall victim to ostensibly inexplicable slides down the board.

One thing’s for sure: Jordan Love is a dude. He announced himself in a playoff thrashing at Jerry World last January. The young Packers look poised to build on that run this year, easily dispatching the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals in back-to-back weeks. The NFC North won’t make it easy. While presumed contenders Dallas and Philadelphia look shaky, the four teams from the Midwest, who enter Week 7 at 5-0, 5-1, 4-2, and 4-2, respectively, stand alongside the San Francisco 49ers as the conference’s elite. At least one NFC North team won’t make the postseason, with Caleb Williams’ less convincing Chicago Bears and Sam Darnold’s Linsanity-running Vikings being the top contenders.

While Ryans’ quote was in the spirit of pregame shows of respect, it indicates that Love is vaulting in the league’s eyes every time he laces ‘em up. With Jayden Reed looking like a more dynamic, less physical Deebo Samuel and the rest of the corps doing their jobs in supplementary roles, Love looks as sharp as ever. Fox film analyst Brian Baldinger said on X that “anyone who gives Jordan Love too much time he will cut you up…if you pressure him his talent on the outside will win. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t.”

The question then becomes: What’s the next step into stardom? The obvious answer is winning bigger games and doing it more convincingly — just like he did in Dallas. For the media’s sake, he needs to beat better teams and come out on top against more elite opposing quarterbacks. All of these agendas kick off on Sunday at Lambeau when the darling superstar on the darling Texans comes north for a showdown. Stroud and Love have had the pleasure of battling alongside much-improved defenses, leaving open the possibility of a Super Bowl matchup that would be the ultimate showcase of the league’s future.

For now, it’s just about keeping things rolling. Love has looked as poised and comfortable as ever in Matt LaFleur’s offense. His emerging cerebral ability and physical tools give him as high of a ceiling as any signal-caller in the league. We’ve learned a lot about his ability to handle business in winnable games.

Now it’s time to see another big statement after the opportunity in Week 1 slipped away, literally and figuratively. After Love went down on the last-gasp drive, the Packers were on the verge of walking out of Sao Paulo with an outcome far worse than a loss. With No. 10 back in the lineup, it represents a missed opportunity to topple Jalen Hurts. Love will have a chance to take another huge swing on Sunday and show the fans and media what NFL coaches already seem to know.