Acme Packing Company
As we do every week in this space, we take a look at the Packers passing game from the previous week. We got a little Clayton Tune near the end of Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, but Malik Willis played the majority of snaps, so that’s who we’re focusing on today.
Completing 85.7% of your passes and posting a QB Rating of 134.6 is tremendous work for QB2. And it’s not like it was all checkdowns or anything: as you can see from the chart, he was pushing the ball downfield. For the game, Willis had an ADOT (Average Depth Of Target) of 11.5 yards (per NFL Pro). That was a pretty big difference from the other sideline, where Tyler Huntley posted an ADOT of 4.2 yards. The last time Jordan Love posted an ADOT of 11.5 or higher was…Week 14 against Chicago (12.1 ADOT). So, not that long ago.
The Ravens also made a point to clog the middle of the field with linebackers, forcing Willis into some high-difficulty throws to the outside. Willis made those throws all night.
As far as the offensive approach, it was pretty pared down. In their passing game, 10 calls (38.5%) involved either Stick (quick-game staple) or Dagger (intermediate-game staple). That being said, this was different than the Willis starts from last season. Those were heavily reliant on a creative run game and passing plays to attack off of that. In this game, Willis was asked to run a more pure dropback offense, and he proved himself to be effective in that role. The pared down playbook for Willis — along with some missed reads when operating a more expanded playbook — gives me pause when it comes to thinking of him as a long-term starter. But, for a game or two, Willis continues to show how valuable he is as a back-up for this offense. However, given his performances when asked to step into a game, it certainly feels like this will be his last year in Green Bay.
When I say “pared down”, I’m not just talking about it from a “what concepts did they run” perspective. This season, they’ve given Jordan Love a lot of control at the line of scrimmage. Identifying the Mike, shifting protections, a heavy dose of Can calls, etc. Those are all ways for the Packers to get into favorable calls against the defense and allowing Love to make sure the protection is right.
All of that was pretty much stripped from the offense this week. I don’t believe I saw Willis make any checks at the line, and his single Can call ended up in a turnover when the ball was snapped directly into his facemask.
Beyond that, the Packers were operating in a more static offense than we’ve seen from them at any point this season. Coming into this game, the Packers were using motion at the snap on 34.5% of their offensive plays. If you include shifts, they were using some kind...
