Acme Packing Company
I know we’re all gearing up for the game tonight against the Commanders, but there are still a handful of plays kicking around in my head from the Packers/Lions game and I wanted to make sure they got a little time in the sun; if nothing else, as something to refer back to as this offense continues to shift and evolve throughout the season.
We’re not spending a ton of time on them. This isn’t a huge deep dive. We’re just running through a handful of things that caught my eye on offense.
I’ve got 5 plays, 4 of which occurred in the 1st quarter. Let’s go.
Packers have a deep Smash concept (shallow route with a corner route over the top) on the left and Dontayvion Wicks [13] running a dig on the backside. Jayden Reed [11] is running the shallow route on Smash, and they have that man doing a ton of running. The most running. He does a quick reverse motion pre-snap, then a shallow return route post-snap. Malik Heath [18] is running the corner route over the top.
Jordan Love [10] works Smash first, doesn’t like it, and smoothly works back to find Wicks in the middle of the field.
A nice 16 yard gain to keep the chains moving.
Packers are running vertical routes on the outside while Matthew Golden [0] is running an in-cutting route from the right. At the snap, Love checks the middle of the field, doesn’t like the match-ups on the outside and gets ready to throw to Golden.
However, as he sets to throw, he spots the deep-dropping linebackers underneath. Instead of just letting it rip, he holds the ball, gives a slight pump to move one of the linebackers to the inside, and hits Golden in the second window for a gain of 11.
Nicely done.
Oh man here’s a fun one. A little more fun if it had actually been completed, but we live in a fallen world.
I’ve been begging for more vertical RPOs out of the Packers offense, and we get this in Week 1. Is the inclusion this week a good sign for the season, or does it failing to connect mean it will be shelved? That’s what I’m looking forward to finding out.
First things first: an RPO stands for Run Pass Option. It’s a called run play with a pass concept tag and the QB decides whether to hand the ball off or throw it. Sometimes that’s a pre-snap decision and sometimes it’s a post-snap decision. Pre-snap RPOs base their decision on body count/leverage before the ball is snapped, while post-snap RPOs base their decision on how a particular player (called a Conflict Defender) reacts after the ball is snapped.
On this play, the Packers have both...
