Acme Packing Company
Looking back on a play from the Packers victory over the Titans.
Today, we’re going back to Week 3 and my favorite opening play of the season. As I’m sure you remember, Jordan Love was injured near the end of the Week 1 game against the Eagles, leading to Malik Willis starting in Week 2 against the Colts and Week 3 against the Titans.
In that Week 2 game, Matt LaFleur launched a split-gun run attack featuring a ton of misdirection. He leaned heavy into a Spinner series with the run game. At times, it looked more like a single-wing offense than anything else.
In that Colts game, Willis only attempted 14 passes, completing 12 of them for 122 yards and 1 TD. They didn’t ask him to do much, but he produced when he was asked.
Going into Week 3, the conversation was around how the Packers offense would look. The element of surprise they had over the Colts was gone and the Titans — for all their faults — had a stout interior defensive line. If the Packers were looking to run the same stuff they did against the Colts, they may have a harder time running it with Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat in the middle of the defensive line.
So they opened with something that looked an awful lot like one of their core run plays. It’s an outside-attacking run that I typically tag as Pin/Pull. The slot receiver to the run side will block down on the second level (“pin”), while an offensive lineman will “pull” outside. With it being a run that is built to get to the perimeter, you’ll often see the QB pitch the ball to the RB.
On the first play of the game against the Titans, the Packers come out in a 3x1 set in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR). The right side of the line has quite a few bodies, with Tucker Kraft [85], Jayden Reed [11] and Christian Watson [9]. Josh Jacobs [8] is set back with Willis.
This is a look that would set up nicely for Pin/Pull. They could use either Reed or Watson as the Pinner (with Reed, the most inside receiver, being the most likely option). Jacobs starting on Willis’ right would lead to a nice pitch opportunity.
The Packers sell Pin/Pull well at the snap. Josh Myers [71] pulls right and Reed releases inside, looking to be the Pinner. Jacobs releases to the right and Willis fakes the pitch.
All this action gets the linebackers moving right, only to see Willis pop up and find Reed crossing the middle of the field.
Reed does a great job on this. He looks like he’s lining up Ernest Jones [53] for a block, then simply ducks underneath and continues his route. By the time anyone on the defense knows what has happened, Reed is all alone in the empty field for a gain of 30.
That opener — along with a 30...
