Acme Packing Company
With 1:12 remaining in the 1st half, the Packers are leading 17-3. But the Lions would get the ball to start the 2nd half and they’re driving to end the 1st half. Now facing 3rd & 7 at the Packers 16 yard line the Lions are looking to put up some points before the half.
They’ve got a 3-step concept to the right, with Kalif Raymond [11] running a vertical route from the outside and Amon-Ra St. Brown [14] running a 6 yard hitch route to the inside. On the left, they’re running a 5-step concept called Bow, consisting of a dig route wrapping over a curl route. Goff is looking to hit St. Brown as his 1st read, then moving to Bow if he doesn’t like that look.
The Packers start in a single-high safety alignment, with Xavier McKinney [29] manning the middle of the field. The Lions shift Sam LaPorta [87] to the left pre-snap and the safeties rotate, with McKinney rolling over to the left and Evan Williams [33] rotating back to single-high. The Packers have a 4-man line, with Quay Walker [7] roving over the center. Javon Bullard [20] is in the slot, aligned tight over St. Brown.
The Packers completely change the picture post-snap. Bullard buzzes out to the flat, Walker drops into zone in the middle and – most importantly – Williams drops down to the line while McKinney rotates back to the middle.
Jared Goff [16] checks Walker in the middle and gets eyes on Bullard, but never looks at the safety rotation. With Bullard buzzing out and Walker held to the middle, Goff believes he has St. Brown for an easy completion. But blind belief can be a dangerous thing and it bites Goff here.
It’s a great playcall by Jeff Hafley, saturated in deception and putting Williams in a perfect spot. And Williams doesn’t waste the opportunity, driving hard on the ball as Goff sets to throw and coming down with a nice INT for his trouble.
And who is at the line causing problems? That’s right, it’s Micah Parsons. Even if Goff sees Williams rotating down, Parsons wins so suddenly that Goff wouldn’t have had time to work back to the Bow concept on the left.
Best case scenario, you’re looking at a sack or a throwaway. Instead, a great call by Hafley – combined with a great play by Williams and a quick win from Parsons – leads to an interception, preventing the Lions from scoring more points going into the half.
Albums listened to: Over The Rhine – Hymn Time in the Land of Abandon
