In an enjoyable turn of events this past Sunday, the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line was completely fine. Through three games, the Buccaneers ranked fourth in the NFL in opponent rushing success rate, creating what should have been a very steep challenge for the running game. This was of little surprise as for much of nose tackle Vita Vea’s career, the Buccaneers have been a very stout run defense. But on Sunday, Green Bay’s offensive line was fine. They weren’t good, but they were fine. The Packers had
a 56th percentile rushing success rate against Tampa, but it frankly should have been higher, and the EPA-per-rush was destroyed by a self-induced red zone fumble as the Packers were about to put the final nail in the coffin. The running backs remain a massive problem.
On the fumble, these are just really poor fundamentals from Kaleb Johnson. Near the goal line, you have to be going through the traffic with two hands on the ball. The only way Tampa has a chance in the game is if they force a turnover here. And instead he just keeps it in one, and has it stripped out from the side where there is the greatest threat. These are mistakes that just can’t be made at the college level, let alone in the NFL.
Here is Chris Brooks’ big carry on the day, and one where the front really does make it easy. The alley is clean, and then Brooks is able to get a big chunk play. You can see once he gets into space, though, he just doesn’t have any juice. Winfield is not particularly fleet of foot as a safety, but there’s really no threat that he’s going to lose the angle. Brooks is a lot of things, but he’s not a value-add as a ball carrier.
Here is just another example of Marshawn Lloyd’s persistent tendency to want to bounce everything at the first sign of conflict.
In Lloyd’s defense, this is a really poor rep from Jordan Morgan, who gets pushed into the backfield. It’s not helped by the tight ends not cleaning up the backside of the play where Lloyd eventually tries to bounce. But also… stop bouncing everything. Morgan is pushed, but he’s not beaten. If Lloyd drives this play-side, there actually is a hole that the right side created. It has Antoine Winfield Jr. at the end of it, but that’s the job. Lloyd is a stoutly built running back. Attack the defensive back near the goal line. Stop [redacted] bouncing everything.
In defense of Lloyd’s bouncing, it did come in handy once. Tucker Kraft completely blew this play, getting beat across his face. It’s not an easy block for a tight end against an edge defender, but it’s one that has to be made for the play to work. Lloyd actually bounces this back weak-side and turns it into a decent gain.
The thing that may drive me most nuts about the running back room right now is that while they are taking a bunch off the table when it comes to vision and fundamentals, they’re also not putting anything on the table. This here is a pretty basic duo play. The whole reason Jonnu motions to the wing is to carry the cornerback into the hole. The play is designed to get Johnson one-on-one with a cornerback. And he doesn’t do anything with it. He doesn’t even really try to.
The Packers are clearly just waiting for Josh Jacobs to return from the exempt list/suspension, but I don’t know how long they can keep rolling this out. This isn’t replacement-level running back play; it’s sub-replacement level, and it’s really stretching how you can even build a coherent offense.
