Acme Packing Company
Let’s dig into the Eagles playbook and take a core Power Spread play.
Last week, I wrote about the offensive approach we may see out of the Packers this year. The short version is that I’m looking for more of a Power Spread approach, which calls for the dudes on the offensive line to move people, the wide receivers to spread out wide and run defenders off more than engage in intense blocking, and a QB who can run.
To be clear, this would mark a fairly significant shift from how the Packers have operated in the past but, given the pieces they have, it’s an approach that I think would make a lot of sense.
With that in mind, I’ve started looking around the league for offenses that run plays out of a similar structure. The idea is to find the plays out of those looks that I like, then see how they may work with the Packers personnel.
We’re starting off with a bang. If we’re talking spread, we might as well start with a full spread look, running a concept you’ll need to run if you want to maximize Power Spread. It’s a simple-yet-beautiful concept called GT Counter Bash.
The Eagles are running this out of 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) with an empty backfield. Kenneth Gainwell [14] is the RB, and he starts the play split wide on the right. He motions in pre-snap, dragging the defender with him to the left side of the formation.
At the snap, Jalen Hurts [1] fakes the handoff to Gainwell while his left guard (Landon Dickerson [69]) and left tackle (Fred Johnson [74]) pull to the right, away from the motion of Gainwell. (The Guard and Tackle pulling are what makes up the “GT” in “GT Counter Bash”).
Hurts fades slightly with the fake, takes a step back then run behinds Dickerson and Johnson.
The Eagles catch the Jaguars with a lot of men at the line, and all of those men playing the Gainwell motion. That leads to some advantageous blocking angles, and Hurts gallops (untouched) for a TD.
So how would this look with the 2025 Green Bay Packers? We’ll start with the line.
I know there are a couple of positions that haven’t been finalized yet so this may not be the starting line, but it’s what I’m going with with at the moment. We’ve got Rasheed Walker [63] at LT, Aaron Banks [65] at LG, Elgton Jenkins [74] at C, Anthony Belton [71] at RG and Zach Tom [50] at RT. Ideally, Jordan Morgan would win the LT job, but, for now, I’m going with Walker there.
At RB, I’m going with MarShawn Lloyd [32] for the same reason the Eagles went with Gainwell: he’s the most dynamic RB. We need an immediate reaction — a forced false step — up front, and putting a guy with the speed/explosiveness of Lloyd in that role is the best way to do that.
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