The Packers lost to the Steelers in their first preseason by the score of something-to-something. It’s preseason. The final score does not matter. There are two main things I truly care about when it comes to preseason:
1. Were there any injuries?
2. How did the players look on an individual basis?
Point 2 is a little more complicated than that (finding individual performance in a team game isn’t always cut-and-dry), but those are the main focal points. So we’re going to do a few mini-posts on individual players
from the preseason. We’re starting with an easy one: Jordan Love.
It’s easy because, as a starter, Love didn’t really get a lot of playing time. He got 5 dropbacks in the passing game, going 3/5 for 18 yards.
The main goal at this point is basically to get the ball out quickly, and he did that. Let’s just roll through the dropbacks real quick, shall we?
Dropback 1
Three-step out-breaker to Christian Watson. Love was money on these last year to the point where it felt like the entire offense was built out of these at times. The timing/placement here is off and the throw sails wide.
When the Packers were running these last year, the routes at this depth were typically off motion. From a static alignment, it was usually a deeper route. It’s possible they’re looking to lean a bit more into an Oops, All Out-Breakers offense to all levels of the field. It’d be nice to see automatic timing here, so I assume this is something they’ll be working on.
Dropback 2
This was the longest Love held the ball all day. We’ve got stop routes on the outside with Christian Watson and Matthew Golden, and Jayden Reed is running a crosser from the slot. It’s originally a 2×2 formation, but Josh Whyle shifts before the snap to the right, making it a 3×1 Trips formation. A defender follows Whyle across the formation, giving Love a Man coverage tell.
With Reed running a crosser to Golden’s side – and the Steelers showing Man coverage – the read essentially becomes the same you’d see in Slant/Flat. Love waits for Whyle’s defender to clear the middle, then fires to Reed in the middle.
There is still one man that needs to be held in place. Patrick Queen [6] is in the middle of the field, watching Love. Love doesn’t give anything away. He’s looking right and doesn’t come back to the middle of the field until he’s ready to throw.
That keeps Queen pinned to the middle, allowing Reed clear the middle. Well done by Love to hold that window open.
Dropback 3
The Packers are using Hank, a quick-game staple. Golden runs the hitch from the outside while Whyle runs a flat underneath. Love hits the top of his drop and hits Whyle for a minimal gain.
This is a quick-game staple, so getting the quick read/timing down on this is important. My hope is that that Packers lean more into the passing game this year and if they do that, using quick-game to replace some of the running game would be a nice way to do that. If you’re going to do that, timing on these is important.
Dropback 4
Here we have MarShawn Lloyd on a WR screen. You’ll see this as part of the Packers RPO game, but, with Lloyd motioning to create an empty formation, this is basically a predetermined read. Matthew Golden is running a slant on the backside — Golden at the X! — so that’s an option if Love wants it. Unless it’s a super-clean pre-snap look, Love isn’t going to Golden on this.
The only thing I’m really concerned with here is Christian Watson getting blown up on the block on the outside. Watson is a willing blocker — and can be a very good one — but he hasn’t been quite the same over the last couple years. He’s still above average in terms of a WR, but he loses or misses more than I would like lately. With the departure of Doubs and Wicks, the WR room has gotten smaller, meaning more of the WR blocking heavy lifting may ride on Watson’s shoulders. If he’s not quite the blocker he once was, that would give me some concern.
I’m certainly not hitting the panic button — everybody has bad reps, after all — but it’s something to monitor early in the season.
Dropback 5
Verts and Love looking to get the ball out on 3 steps. He has a choice of Love, Watson or Reed, but, with a single-high safety, Reed is the right decision.
There’s good coverage on the play, with the defender playing over the top, so Love goes back shoulder to Reed. Reed doesn’t seem to pick it up right away and drifts a bit, and the ball is knocked away.
It’s a fine read and throw by Love (especially with the onus on him getting the ball out quickly), but Reed is just a tick late on coming back to the ball.
Can you glean a ton from 5 plays? Not really. If there are a couple things to look out for early in the season they’re in Dropback 1 (timing on short out-breakers) and Dropback 4 (Christian Watson as a blocker).
Albums listened to: Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Weekend; Lydia Withem – Yonder Rd.
