It feels like it was 2 months between games, but we finally got to watch the Green Bay Packers play football again. It wasn’t a blowout, but the Packers were comfortably in control for the entire game.
There were a few stressful moments to be sure, but overall, this was a nice, relatively stress-free watch.
Every week, we take a look at how their passing offense looked, so let’s get into it.
A nice little chart. Slightly left-leaning and the baffling INT on the right side, but a pretty nice little chart.
The numbers look good, too. Per RBSDM, Jordan Love had an ADOT (Average Depth of Target) of 9.5 yards. He started off this season chucking, dialed it back in the Browns & Cowboys game, but came out of the bye firing. Love’s completion percentage of 73.1% is good, especially with that deeper ADOT. On the day, Love had an EPA Per Dropback of +0.27, 6th best in the league this week. For the whole season, Love is sitting at +0.26 EPA per Dropback, tied for the highest mark in the league with Daniel Jones and Josh Allen (per NFL Pro). Not too shabby.
He hasn’t been doing it all with his arm, either. Last season, we wanted to see more scrambling out of Love, but his injuries made that a little difficult. He’s been a more willing scrambler this season, and he’s been effective while doing it. In this game, Love generated +4.6 EPA on his scrambles, the second-best scrambling EPA on the day (behind Jaxson Dart & Tyler Huntley).
The Packers’ aerial attack was a pretty simple one; pair quick game staples with vertical concepts to the other side. They were clearly concerned about the pass rush that Trey Hendrickson could generate, so they gave Love the early option of quick-read, 3-step-drop concepts, with 7-step concepts to the other side if he had time (or if the quick game was muddied). Love operated this well, taking what was given to him but also buying time to push the ball downfield when he felt he had a favorable match-up.
A solid game plan that Love executed well. It helps when you’ve got Flu Game Josh Jacobs out there to act as the checkdown when everything else is covered.
For the film section, we’re going to take a look at two examples of the type of attack I described above.
Play 1: 2nd & 9, 3:15 remaining in the 1st quarter
This is one of the Packers’ favorite concepts pairing: Hank and Middle-Read Dagger. Hank is a 3-step concept, consisting of a hitch route from the outside and a flat route from the inside.
Dagger is a 7-step concept, consisting of a vertical, clear-out route from the inside and an in-cutting route behind it. Middle-Read Dagger is a version of Dagger that gives the vertical route an option; if the defense is in a two-high look, the route will bend to the middle to split the safeties. If the defense is in a single-high safety look, the route will cut across the face of the safety.
The Packers are in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR), motioning into a 2×2 formation. They’re running Hank on the right, with Matthew Golden [0] on the hitch and Luke Musgrave [88] on the flat. They’re running Middle-Read Dagger on the left, with Romeo Doubs [87] on the clear-out route and Malik Heath [18] on the in-cutter.
Love is reading Hank first. If he likes that, he’ll throw it (reading inside out, Golden-to-Musgrave). If he doesn’t like it, he’ll transition to 7-step footwork and throw to Dagger (typically hitting the in-cutter).
At the snap, the Bengals bring a rusher from the LB spot and drop into soft zone behind it – with the safety slowly walking down over the hitch – giving Love an easy read: hit the third step and fire to Golden. He takes a peek at the LB in the middle to make sure he’s not buzzing under the hitch, then throws.
Golden makes the catch, turns to the inside, jukes a man out of his boots and ends up with a 20 yard gain.
Not bad for a quick-game rep.
Play 2: 1st & 10, 2:32 remaining in the 1st quarter
We’re advancing to the very next play, with a very similar idea. They’re running a different quick-game concept – Stick – and pairing it with Dagger. This time they’re in 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR) and motioning into a 2×2 formation. They’re in a YY Wing look on the left, with both TEs in-line. They’re running Stick on the two TE side and Dagger on right, with Doubs on the clear-out and Dontayvion Wicks [13] on the in-cutter.
Love is looking to Stick first, but the Bengals are dropping back into zone and neither of the TEs is open, so he works back to Dagger.
On Dagger, he’s reading the clear-out route, then working down to the in-cutter. (In the vast majority of cases, the throw goes to the in-cutter.) The safety over the two TEs buzzes over to take away Doubs, while the deep drops of the linebackers make a throw to Wicks a risky proposition.
With the linebackers dropping back so deep, Love simply takes the checkdown to Jacobs.
Jacobs gets the ball in space, guides a man into the dirt and picks up 7 yards.
Play 3: 3rd & 10, 5:46 remaining in the 2nd quarter
We’ll end by looking at the biggest gain of the day: the vertical shot to Golden up the left sideline. There’s no quick game concept here, but we still have Dagger. We always have Dagger.
The Packers are in 11 personnel, in a 3×2 spread look. They’re running Dagger on the left, with Savion Williams [83] running the vertical route and Heath on the in-cutter.
Golden is the lone receiver split wide on the left, with Chris Brooks [30] acting as an in-line TE to his side. Golden is running a vertical route.
The Bengals initially start in a two-high look, but they start drifting into a single-high safety look before the ball is snapped. Love is reading the safety to Golden’s side. If that safety drops back into a two-high safety position, that would put a cap over the vertical route from Golden, so Love will work Dagger, then hit a checkdown if nothing is there.
If that safety over Golden drops down post-snap, that means he has a one-on-one with Golden on the outside. Sometimes that’s a match-up read for Love: if he likes the one-on-one, he’ll throw it. If he doesn’t, he’ll work Dagger. However, with Dagger being a concept that works the middle of the hashes, and the safety over Golden dropping down into the middle of the hashes, Dagger won’t be open. So Love is likely throwing the vertical even if he doesn’t particularly like the match-up.
At the snap, Love checks the safeties. The backside safety is held to the opposite hash, and the safety over Golden drops down, giving Love a one-on-one to Golden against a single-high safety. He hits the top of his drop, hops forward and throws to Golden.
Drops it right in the bucket. Beautiful throw, and a great catch from Golden.
Albums listened to: The Antlers – Blight; Flock of Dimes – The Life You Save; Basement Revolver – Embody
