Utah State Professional Athletes

Utah State in the NFL | Week 4 Roundup

Jordan Love is making Aggie fans proud — and making division rivals uncomfortable.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback, a Logan product through and through, carved up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4 to the tune of 197 passing yards and 2 touchdown passes in a 17–14 win. The victory wasn't without blemish — Love also threw an interception and lost 8 yards on the ground — but it was the kind of performance that's becoming routine: efficient, clutch, and increasingly hard to argue with.

A film breakdown of Love's two TD passes against Tampa revealed the precision that's defined his play through the early part of the season, with Green Bay's offense executing well enough to overcome significant offensive line upheaval. The Packers were forced to start Laken Tomlinson — freshly signed off the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad — and Travis Glover, a tackle playing out of position at guard. Love's response? Express confidence in his rebuilt unit and go out and win a close game.

The Rival Coach Who Said the Quiet Part Loud

The week's most notable Utah State angle didn't come from the box score. It came from Chicago.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson — whose team sits in the same NFC North division as the Packers — publicly called Love "one of the better quarterbacks in the league." The comment sparked immediate backlash in Chicago, where fans are still riding high on former No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams. Johnson's admission was framed as honest and straightforward, but it landed like a live grenade in one of the NFL's most heated rivalries.

For Utah State alumni, it's a remarkable moment. Love was never a blue-chip recruit. He developed at a Group of Five program in Cache Valley, went in the first round, spent years backing up Aaron Rodgers, and is now receiving unsolicited praise from opposing head coaches. That's a trajectory worth appreciating.

The Play-Action Question

One wrinkle worth watching: Sports Illustrated flagged that Love has been particularly dominant in the play-action game statistically, yet the Packers haven't been consistently leaning into it. Green Bay's offensive staff will face pressure to answer that question as the season progresses — because if Love is most dangerous in that scheme, leaving efficiency on the table seems like an unnecessary luxury for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

The Rest of the Aggie Roster

Elsewhere across the league, Utah State had representation on multiple rosters — from Jaylen Warren in Pittsburgh's backfield to Jalen Royals suiting up for the Chiefs in their 30–27 win over the Raiders on Sunday. Neither registered notable individual statistical lines, but the depth of Aggie talent across the NFL continues to be quietly impressive for a program of Utah State's size.

Love, though, is the headliner — and for now, even his rivals can't stop talking about him.

Jordan Love and the Packers' Perfect Storm

Utah State's most prominent NFL export is having a week — and not the good kind.

Jordan Love is quarterbacking through a crisis in Green Bay. The Packers' offensive line has been the team's most glaring weakness through the early weeks of the season, forcing Green Bay into emergency mode: GM Brian Gutekunst has already signed three veteran offensive linemen in what critics are calling equal parts quick fix and act of desperation. Love himself sent a pointed public message to the unit, making clear the situation is unsustainable.

It's not just the trenches. Wide receiver Jayden Reed — whom Love called a "1 of 1" after the injury — underwent neck surgery and was placed on season-ending IR following a frightening Week 2 hit. The loss strips Love of one of his most trusted targets and reshuffles the entire Green Bay passing game. Christian Watson, Tucker Kraft, and others now inherit elevated roles, though none carries Reed's reliability in Love's eyes.

The external noise isn't helping. Analysts surveyed by The Sporting News reported that confidence in Love is "falling fast" — a brutal verdict for a quarterback who entered this season with significant expectations after signing his extension. The adversity is piling up from multiple directions simultaneously: a porous line, a depleted receiver room, and a growing perception problem that Love will need to arrest with his play.

One brighter note — at least in the fantasy universe — Love was pegged as the anchor of a Week 4 DraftKings lineup by Sports Illustrated, suggesting the box-score upside is still there even amid the chaos. But upside and results are different currencies, and right now Green Bay needs the latter.

Oh, and on the margins: Love's wife Ronika publicly disclosed that two personal belongings were taken from her during the Falcons game at Lambeau Field. It was, by nearly every measure, a difficult week to be a Packer.

Jalen Davis: Season in Jeopardy

While Love navigates adversity in Green Bay, fellow Aggie Jalen Davis is watching his season slip away in Cincinnati.

The Bengals placed the veteran cornerback on injured reserve this week, a move that came after Davis was inactive for Cincinnati's Week 4 matchup against Pittsburgh. The IR designation signals a multi-week absence at minimum, and with rookie Tacario Davis now in line for expanded snaps, the door may not swing wide open again quickly upon Jalen's return.

Elsewhere in Aggie Nation

Jalen Royals continues to carve out a role in Kansas City's loaded offense, hauling in one catch for 11 yards in the Chiefs' 24-10 win over Miami on Sunday. Quiet numbers, but keeping the jersey on an active Super Bowl contender is its own form of progress for the Utah State wideout.

The week underscored a familiar reality for Aggie alumni in the NFL: the margins are razor-thin, and adversity doesn't wait for anyone to get comfortable — not even the guys with the big contracts.

Two Utah State alumni are pulling the spotlight in opposite directions this week — one carrying the weight of a $220 million contract and a franchise teetering, the other riding the high of a career-defining moment in Kansas City.

Jordan Love: Green Bay's $220M Question

The Packers are 1-2, and Jordan Love is at the center of nearly every uncomfortable conversation in Green Bay.

The week opened with some relief: Love's hand numbness from the Jets game — a concern that briefly clouded his status — was explained away before Thursday Night Football. He was cleared and took the field against Atlanta. What happened next wasn't encouraging.

Love passed for 312 yards and two touchdowns against the Falcons, but it wasn't enough. Green Bay lost 35-14 at home in what Love himself called a "frustrating" night, adding it was "back to the drawing board." The run game — which mustered just 17 yards on the ground — has become a recurring crisis. Love acknowledged after the game that it needs to improve, and he didn't spare his teammates in the critique.

The broader numbers paint a difficult picture. Love entered Week 3 with the lowest completion percentage among qualifying starters at 52.1 percent, and an anonymous NFL executive called the Packers "broken" despite their Week 2 overtime squeaker over the Jets. Head coach Matt LaFleur has publicly admitted the offense has lost its identity, with an offensive line unable to protect Love or generate a running game.

The criticism has escalated beyond the front office. Five-time Pro Bowler Jarvis Landry called on Green Bay to move on from both Love and LaFleur entirely. The Sporting News went further, framing 2026 as a potential unraveling of the franchise's long-term plan.

Love's Week 2 performance against the Jets — 145 yards, two touchdowns, a 20-17 overtime win — earned him a passing grade from Bleacher Report's QB report cards, but that goodwill evaporated fast after the Falcons blowout. The former Aggie has talent and a massive contract; what he doesn't yet have is a functional supporting cast or a clean bill of health.

Jalen Royals: Kansas City's New Spark

While Love wrestles with adversity in Green Bay, Royals is riding a wave of momentum in Kansas City.

The former Utah State wideout caught his first NFL touchdown in the Chiefs' 33-30 win over the Colts on September 20 — a moment that, by all accounts, has reverberated well beyond a single box score. Sports Illustrated reported the milestone has "energized" both Royals and the broader Chiefs organization, a significant endorsement in a locker room that sets a high bar.

Royals' stat line on the day was modest — 2 receptions for 6 yards and the score — but the significance isn't in the yardage. Breaking through for a first career touchdown on a Super Bowl-contending roster, against a legitimate defense, is the kind of moment that can reshape a young receiver's trajectory. Royals kept his post-game message to Chiefs Kingdom short and direct, which fit the moment perfectly.

For Utah State fans, the contrast this week is stark: one Aggie navigating the most scrutinized stretch of his career, another finding his footing on one of the league's best teams. Both storylines are worth watching as the season deepens.

Jordan Love's Career-Best Moment Comes Inside a Team Disaster

Utah State's most prominent NFL alumnus had his finest individual moment of the season — and possibly his career — swallowed whole by one of the Packers' ugliest late-game collapses in recent memory.

Jordan Love torched the Vikings in the first three quarters of Green Bay's Week 1 opener, posting 387 passing yards and two touchdowns, including an 81-yard strike to Christian Watson that stands as the longest TD throw of his career. The Packers led by eight heading into the fourth quarter. Then the bottom fell out. Minnesota outscored Green Bay 22-0 in the final frame, flipping a manageable deficit into a 39-22 final. Love finished the game with one interception and absorbed four sacks and 15 quarterback hits as Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores blitzed at a rate exceeding 80 percent.

The loss extended Green Bay's losing streak to six games dating back to last season — a run that includes a wild-card playoff exit to the Chicago Bears. Love's performance lit up national sports media, but the conversation quickly bifurcated: awe at the quarterback's individual talent, alarm at the organization surrounding him.

An Offensive Line in Crisis

The loudest post-game signal came not from Love's stats but from the film room. Head coach Matt LaFleur publicly acknowledged seeing "protection busts that should not and cannot happen" after reviewing the Vikings tape. Analysts pointed to the Packers' offensive line as a systemic liability, with at least one calling on Green Bay to pursue Cleveland Browns guard Teven Jenkins to address the interior blocking problems exposed in Week 1.

Sports Illustrated called the situation "organizational malpractice," arguing that a broken protection scheme threatens to derail Love's development and squander his contract window. The piece echoed a broader concern that the Packers are structurally over-reliant on Love to compensate for failures elsewhere — a formula that flatters the quarterback in the stat sheet while accelerating losses.

ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky added a cautionary note of his own, warning on the Pat McAfee Show that Love's ability to sustain his Week 1 performance level is not guaranteed, and that Packers fans should temper expectations accordingly.

Love Earns Respect from Next Opponent

Despite the defeat, Love's tape drew unambiguous respect from his Week 2 opponent. Jets head coach Aaron Glenn — who faces Green Bay at MetLife Stadium — was blunt in his scouting report, calling Love "unbelievable" and signaling that his defense will not mistake a 39-22 loss for evidence that Love is beatable. Packers center Sean Rhyan, meanwhile, made clear what his unit's Week 2 assignment is: protect Love, full stop.

For Utah State fans, the week offers a complicated ledger. Their most celebrated NFL alum threw the longest touchdown of his career, looked every bit the $220 million franchise quarterback Green Bay invested in — and watched his team surrender a 17-point lead anyway. The box score flatters. The standings do not.

With the Jets looming and the offensive line under the microscope, Week 2 becomes an early referendum on whether Green Bay can build a functional pocket around the Aggie who is clearly capable of winning when given the chance.