Jordan Love enters year no. 1 as the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers with a single start under his belt. That experience may be insightful for how he approaches this year in only one major way: that he'll be prepared to face the unexpected.

Statistically, Love performed fine in his first start, a Week 9 road game against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021. He was thrown right into the fire and posted 190 passing yards and a touchdown through the air while completing 19 of 34 pass attempts. Kansas City notched an interception and a fumble on him (though Green Bay didn’t lose it) but only sacked him once.

Love recalled his first NFL start by remembering how much harder it is than preseason, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. The Packers' rookie at the time had to stand in for Aaron Rodgers and did so admirably given the situation.

“That experience in Kansas City was an eye-opening experience,” Love said, via Sports Illustrated. “Like, O.K., this is what it’s like now; it’s not preseason, you get in a real game, where these defensive coordinators have been game-planning for exactly the looks you might mess up on, and I don’t have the right answer for. And then, obviously, if you don’t pick it up in the game, they’re going to keep sending the same stuff.”

Jordan Love has grown a lot since that game and, while he should be a better player, he has to get the right support. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has a better idea of how to support Love and open up the game for him. He's frustrated with how he coached his first start but now can use it as a lesson.

“They zero blitzed the hell out of us,” LaFleur said, via Sports Illustrated. “Would they have done that to Aaron? Probably not. It was just a different set of circumstances, because we didn’t know until Wednesday. What I should have done in hindsight is start over with the game plan, not to throw everything out, but just have better answers for him specifically so it took a little off his plate. I was worried about it going into the game, and my biggest fears came true…I’m still kicking myself about that.”

Going after Love without playing a deep safety showed that the Chiefs were not worried about getting deep bombed. They wanted to attack the rookie, knock him off his game before he even gets a chance to find it. Love has shown throughout his career that he's a gamer, making him mentally equipped to handle the pressure.