The further we get in this series, the easier the posts are to write. Part of that is finding a bit of a groove in terms of how I want to present the information, but the other (more obvious) part is that there are fewer plays in these sections. We had 22 plays in 1st & 10. We had 10 plays in 2nd & Long. And today, for 2nd & Medium, we have 4 plays.
If you’re new to this series, we’re reviewing how the Packers offense performed in 2025 by down & distance, and we’re doing that by building out a callsheet.
I ran it all down in the initial post.
A few definitions and then we’ll dig in. I’ll be referencing Success Rate and Explosive Rate. On 2nd down, a play is considered a success if it gains at least 50% of the yards needed to gain a 1st down. An explosive play is a pass play that gains 16+ yards or a run play that gains 12+ yards. As far as the down & distance, “Medium” is needing 4-6 yards for a 1st down.
So how did the Packers do on 2nd & Medium in 2025? They averaged 3.8 plays per game on 2nd & Medium, 13th in the league. In this down & distance, the Packers had a Success Rate of 67.4% (3rd in the league), gained an average of 4.8 yards per play (19th) and an explosive play rate of 8.1% (tied for 21st). So they were efficient, but this wasn’t a huge situation for them in terms of gaining yards or generating explosives.
They had a pass rate of 46.5% on 2nd & Medium, 25th in the league. I wanted to see if there were any major differences between what they did when running or passing.
Success Rate is nearly identical, but they averaged 1.6 more yards per play and had a 3.5 percentage point bump when passing.
We’re going to split this right down the middle today: 2 passes and 2 runs, but we’re throwing an additional pass play at the end of the sheet for a potential explosive.
Passes
Two Man Stick (3.5 YPA, 87.5% Success)
A quick game staple. The Packers will run this a handful of different ways, but this has been their favorite over the years. On the Trips (3 receiver) side, the outside receiver runs a vertical clear-out route while the two inside receivers run quick out routes. The vertical route is an alert (the QB can throw it if it’s against the right defensive look and he likes the match-up), but otherwise this is read outside-in. He’ll look to the #2 receiver first, then work back inside to #3.
It’s a 3-step drop on Stick, and it’s typically paired with a 5-7 step drop on the backside. In the clip above, the Packers are running a version of Bow on the backside.
Dragon (19.0 YPA, 100% Success)
Otherwise known as Slant/Flat, this concept became a bit of a dirty word in Green Bay near the end of the McCarthy era (I, for one, never wanted to see Richard Rodgers on a flat route again).
This is a simple concept that can lead to a nice gain if you can hit the slant in-stride. In the clip above, Jordan Love waits for the flat defender to clear then hits Christian Watson on the slant. Watson is able to catch it without slowing down and ends up with 19 yards.
Runs
Power (4.3 YPA, 66.7% Success)
The split-back Spinner run game wasn’t quite as big a piece in the 2025 offense as I thought it would be, but it was still effective when they broke it out. This is one of my favorites: Spinner FB Lead. Emanuel Wilson motions behind Love as if he’s releasing into the right flat, but then breaks off the motion at the snap. Chris Brooks works as a fullback, leading to the left. That gives Wilson a lead fullback along with Jordan Morgan pulling to the left.
Wide Zone (7.0 YPA, 100% Success)
Anthony Muñoz described zone blocking as blocking on “a railroad track…if a defensive lineman or linebacker crosses onto the track, your job is to take him and move him.” (Taken from Tim Layden’s Blood, Sweat and Chalk)
When LaFleur came to Green Bay, this was the basis of the offense. They have moved away from it a bit over the years, but it’s still very much a big piece of their run game. Its overall effectiveness has been fine (45.3% Success Rate on Wide Zone runs in 2025), but was fairly limited in terms of yards gained (3.8 YPA) and explosiveness (6.8%).
Explosive
All Go (57.0 YPA, 100% Success)
One of my favorite vertical concepts. Its effectiveness has waxed and waned over the years, but the Packers found a bit of a resurgence this year. The above play is out of 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TE, 1 WR). Going that heavy on this down & distance can really help sell the run, which can help this pop. This is something that doesn’t really work against two-high coverages, but if you can catch the defense in single-high, I’d have this as a check for a potential explosive. Going this heavy can help force defenses into single-high looks, so it’s a good concept to have in your pocket for this down & distance.
Here’s how that section looks on our callsheet:
Here is where you can find the other parts of this series:
An Introduction
1st & 10
2nd & Long
Albums listened to: Hater – Mosquito; Gnarls Barkley – Atlanta; Olivia Dean – The Art of Loving
