Packers Vs Seahawks – 3 Plays That Make You Go Hmmm

After re-watching the Packers game, here are three plays that made me go hmmm, for various reasons.

King Me – Kevin King returned from injury and has had two very good games in a row. What’s been most impressive is that he seems to have found himself as a tackler. This play is a perfect example. In years past, he would have charged at the receiver and thrown his shoulder at his legs, making it an easy task for the ball carrier to side-step him. Here he plays it perfectly. He closes the space, but doesn’t over commit. He keeps a wide base, stays on his toes and is ready to react to whatever the ball carrier does. This is textbook. As I’ve said many times in this space since King was a rookie, King is a good man corner with the ball in front of him, but runs into trouble when he has to turn and run with a receiver. We all know what that can result in. He is at his best in situations like this one, even more so now if he’s bought into proper tackling technique.

Not the King – The Anti-Kevin King is Eric Stokes. When King has to turn and run, he takes wide turns and loses contact with the receiver, often conceding several yards. Looking at this play, Stokes turns THREE times on the run, never giving an inch or losing contact with the receiver and mirrors him the entire way. Ths is elite skill.

Big John – Two things usually make for a successful screen pass, a believable enough deception of some type,and a big block downfield from one of your linemen. The Packers had two successful screens on the same drive against the Seahawks that had both of these things. In both cases, the key block was by Jon Runyan who showed acute awareness in picking out the target most likely to get to Jones first and sealing him off. They weren’t devastating blocks, but you don’t always need that and often times when the big boys try too hard downfield, they’ll whiff on the block entirely. Runyan executes both plays perfectly.