Acme Packing Company
Earlier this week, we looked at a specific concept the Green Bay Packers ran against the Chciago Bears a couple times this year and how they may look to tweak it in this Wild Card game. Today, we’re just looking at a couple of missed opportunities from the Week 16 game after backup quarterback Malik Willis entered the game. I’m not really doing this from a “what could have been.” It’s more of a way to review some things that were left on the table and see if they will revisit them this week.
We’ve got three plays. Let’s go.
Good ol’ PA Boot (or, in the Packers playbook, simply Keep).
This is a concept that plays heavily off Wide Zone runs, so it was a huge passing concept in LaFleur’s first couple of years. As defenses started taking away Wide Zone as a basis for offense, this play was dialed back significantly. It has made a resurgence this year. It was the Packers’ 3rd most used passing concept this year, and it was a good, solid concept. They dialed up PA Boot 42 times this season, averaging 6.7 YPA, with a 66.7% success rate and 16.7% explosive rate.
The Packers are in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) out of a static, 2×2 formation. This version has Jayden Reed [11] with an outside release on the backside of the play, running vertically down the field. With the switch release on that side between Reed and Romeo Doubs [87], Reed ends up cutting sharply up the seam and throwing up his hand.
With all the bodies at the line, confusion on the defense with the switch release and the single-high safety fading to the boot side, Reed is wide open.
Willis is running the play as-is, so he carries out the boot and finds Luke Musgrave [88] in the flat for 5 yards and the 1st down.
There are versions of this that call for a half-boot by the QB, pulling up on the far hash and looking to the backside for a shot. The most well-known being Leak.
If the Packers find themselves facing a similar look, I wouldn’t be shocked if they have a check to a version of this where Jordan Love pulls up on a half-boot and goes for the home run up the opposite seam.
This All Go concept is one that was a huge play for the Packers in 2020 and 2021, then slowly faded out of the playbook as defenses changed. We’re seeing it come back this year in selective spots (Packers ran it 14 times this season for 10 YPA, 42.9% success rate, 21.4% explosive rate).
The Bears look like they’re in a Cover 3 look pre-snap, then spin to a Quarters look post-snap. It looks like Willis is looking to throw to Christian Watson [9]...
