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We already talked about the Green Bay Packers’ passing game as a whole, but I wanted to take a deeper look at a play that could potentially have changed the complexion of the game. It goes down as an incomplete pass to receiver Romeo Doubs early in the 2nd quarter on 3rd & 6. The Packers led 3-0 at the time, and Brandon McManus would kick a field goal on the next play to push their lead to 6-0.
Here’s the play in question:
At the time, my thought was that the throw was a bit high and behind, but Doubs was able to get his hands on it and had a chance to pull this in. Ultimately, not a great throw, but the receiver still had a chance. Could’ve been better on both sides.
With a little time to look back, I wanted to take a look at this play through the lens of the playcall. The normal caveats of “we don’t know what was called in the huddle” are all true, but this is something I’ve seen the Packers run in the low red zone a fair number of times so I kinda/sorta feel okay about the details on this play.
The right side is a concept I typically tag as Pile. Since it’s a two-man concept, it’s something that can be paired with a number of different concepts and looks. Here is a page from the 2019 Packers playbook showing Pile on the right side:
On the play in question, that puts Romeo Doubs [87] on the Pile and Jayden Reed [11] on the Now route. Based on stop from Reed, I assume that’s actually a Now Return route. For our purposes today, we’re looking at the Pile route from Doubs. In the diagram above, you’ll see 6 yards listed on the Pile route. That’s the break point on the route. Here are the details on the route itself:
The Packers are starting this play outside the 5-yard line, so this would call for Doubs to push vertical to 6 yards (the 1-yard line) and roll to 10 yards (3 yards deep in the end zone).
Love hits his back foot and is ready to throw to Doubs just as Doubs is starting his break. Doubs cuts his route hard at 6 yards, running horizontally at the 1-yard line. The throw from Love is where you would expect the placement if Doubs rolls to 10 yards.
It’s a small thing: a difference of 4 yards. But details matter, especially here in the confines of the low red zone. Doubs has the defender on his outside hip; a roll to 10 yards on the break would keep the defender there and would allow Doubs to catch this ball away from his body in the end zone. Instead, the throw is high and behind and Doubs isn’t able to haul it in.
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