If you’re new to this series, we’re reviewing how the Green Bay Packers offense performed in 2025 by situation. We’re doing that by building out a call sheet, which I ran down in my initial post. This is the 12th (and final) article in the series, where we’re looking at the Goal Line. Generally, I look at the Low Red Zone as plays between the opponent’s 1-10 yard line, but I wanted to break it down 1 step further this year and bring in a goal line section. Based on some research, I’ve decided that the goal line package
should start at the 3-yard line. So today, we’re building out the goal line section of our callsheet.
Once we get down to this area of the field, you probably won’t be shocked to find that there isn’t a very large sample size. And you would be correct. In 2025, the Packers averaged 1.5 goal line plays per game, tied for 12th in the league. The Rams were at the top of the league with 2.4 plays per game, and the Jets were at the bottom with 0.4 plays per game.
In terms of how they performed in this area, your Green Bay Packers were at the top of the league in both success rate (80%) and TD Rate (68%). On the season, the Packers scored 17 TDs in this area, tied for 3rd in the league. The Rams – with a TD rate of 55% – are at the top with 22 TDs. If the Packers had the same number of plays the Rams did, they would have ended the season with 27 TDs.
Part of that is due to the number of drives: per FTN, the Rams had 18 more drives than the Packers last year (the Rams ranked 19th in drive pace last year, while the Packers ranked 30th). But it’s also how the Packers & Rams performed in the non-goal line red zone. The Rams had a success rate of 58.7% in the low red zone last season (2nd in the league), while the Packers were at 46.8% (16th). If the Packers can pick up the pace a bit and perform a little better in the low red zone in 2026, they’ll be cooking with gas.
We’ve got 2 plays to look at today, but I’m going to throw in an extra for 2 point purposes. And also because I want to. In 2025, the Packers were better passing the ball then running the ball in goal line situations. When passing, they had a success rate of 88.9% and a TD rate of 88.9%. When running, they had a success rate of 65% and a TD rate of 50%. So we’re rolling with 2 passes and 1 run.
Passes
Shield (1.5 YPA, 100% TD Rate)
This is one of my favorite concepts in this part of the field. The Packers have had great success with it, typically as the pass tag on an RPO. They had good success this year with a variant of this, but they didn’t actually run the original play in their goal line package in 2025. They ran it as part of their low red zone package this year, so I’ll show that first.
Shield is a two-man concept, with the inside man running a route up the field and the outside receiver running a Now slant off the hip. The idea is for the first receiver to create a natural rub – a “shield”, if you will – for the receiver behind him. It can be extremely hard to cover in this area of the field. In the play above, Watson is working as the Shield, Doubs is working the Now slant, and Rasheed Walker ends the play as the Savior.
There’s a nice little wrinkle that the Packers used at the goal line this year. I’ve just been calling it Shout (Shield/Out).
Get the defense looking for Shield, then have the outside man release to the pylon.
TE Release (2.0 YPA, 100% TD Rate)
In the tight confines of the goal line, there are a handful of ways to spring open a receiver. You can use misdirection by showing a look you’ve shown a thousand times and mixing it up just a tad, or you can set up a natural rub. Or you can do both.
Josh Whyle goes in motion and looks to be angling to block out the EMOL (End Man On Line), but arcs around and releases to the flat. As another defender runs to cover, he runs into Christian Watson, running an in-cutting route.
Runs
Wide Zone (1.6 YPA, 60% TD Rate)
I was all set to put Inside Zone in this spot, but, at a rate level, it was outperformed by Wide Zone in this area, which I did not anticipate. Inside Zone had a higher success rate (71.4%), but a lower TD Rate (50%). That still made Inside Zone a nice contender, but I’m giving the edge to Wide Zone here. (It’s worth noting that all 3 of the Packers TDs off Wide Zone came from a no huddle look.)
Get the offense flowing to one side and the running back will follow the flow of the line while looking for cutbacks.
Here is how that section looks on our callsheet:
Here is where you can find the other parts in this series:
An Introduction
1st & 10
2nd & Long
2nd & Medium
2nd & Short
3rd & Long
3rd & Medium
3rd & Short
4th & Short
High Red Zone
Low Red Zone
That’s a wrap on our callsheet series! I love going through this exercise every offseason because it gives me a chance to revisit the season as a whole, while also giving me the chance to dig into what works and what doesn’t. It helps fully close the books on the previous season, while also giving me a good sense of where the offense may be heading into the next season.
I hope you all enjoyed reading these half as much as I enjoyed writing them.
Albums listened to: IAN SWEET – Shiverstruck; Sister Ray Davies – Holy Island; Pete Yorn – All the Beauty
