Once again, Malik Willis rescues the Packers.
We’re now inside the five as we look at the Packers’ top plays of 2024 as voted upon by the APC staff. Today, Malik Willis goes deep with the game on the line.
The Game
After starting the season 2-2, the Packers had won three straight and were off to Jacksonville in Week 8 in search of a fourth. They had good reason to think they’d find it. The Jaguars were just 2-5 heading into their game against the Packers, well on their way to a 4-13 season that would end with the firing of head coach Doug Pederson.
The disjointed Jaguars were particularly inconsistent on offense. Former first overall pick Trevor Lawrence hadn’t yet found his stride in 2024, and as the Packers had been scoring interceptions aplenty, it figured to be a good tune-up game for the Packers as they approached the midpoint of their season and the all-important bye week it would bring.
All they had to do was get through the Jaguars game relatively healthy, play clean football, and they’d be 6-2.
Unfortunately, clean, healthy football was in short supply for the Packers in Week 8. Still ailing from his Week 1 knee injury, Jordan Love’s mobility was limited and he tweaked his groin on the first drive of the game.
What’s more, Love was battling through a spate of interceptions — he’d thrown at least one in every game of 2024 to that point, including two against Houston in Week 7. Like Lawrence, he hadn’t quite settled in yet, and wouldn’t for some time.
Early in the second quarter, the interception bug bit Love again. Jarrian Jones picked off a poorly thrown ball deep in Jaguars territory, scuttling a scoring chance for the Packers. Then, later in the quarter, Love exacerbated his earlier groin injury, and wouldn’t return for the second half. Once again, it was Malik Willis time for the Packers.
The Situation
The Packers emerged from the break with a 13-10 lead, but a back-and-forth second half saw the Jaguars tie the game at 27 with under two minutes to go. Without their starting quarterback, it looked like the Packers were headed for overtime football in Jacksonville. That is, unless Willis could deliver something spectacular.
A touchback put the Packers in business on their own 30, but a Josh Jacobs run on first down seemed to show the Packers’ intention to play for overtime, content to let the clock dwindle down near the one-minute mark.
The Play
And indeed, on the next play it looked like the Packers would do exactly that, except for one thing: Willis was at work under center dissecting the Jaguars defense, deftly audibling to a play the Packers hadn’t even practiced that week.
LaFleur says that the big play to Reed was not only a “can” by Willis but it was something they essentially put in during the game after they saw something in the Jags defense, something they had thought about during the week and decided against installing. Never practiced it.
— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) October 27, 2024
The can play in question was a “leak” concept, one the Packers had been setting up throughout the game. And it worked like a dream.
Faking a down block on a linebacker, Jayden Reed turned on the jets as he sprinted across the field before turning up the left sideline. After carrying out his bootleg to the right, Willis looked back to his left and saw Reed virtually all alone, hitting him in stride as Reed ran away from a hopelessly bamboozled Jaguars defender.
Reed hauled in Willis’ heave and did the rest, threading his way 51 yards through the Jaguars secondary before he was finally brought down on the Jacksonville 15-yard line.
The Impact
Willis’ savvy audible and Reed’s catch-and-run all but won the game for the Packers; the rest was academic. Two runs and two kneel-downs later, Brandon McManus trotted out for his second game-winning field goal in as many weeks, knocking it through to secure the win.
Once again, Malik Willis had saved the Packers’ bacon.