The Passing Chronicles: 2021 Week 12

Week 12? No no no. That can’t be right. Why, the season only started a few weeks ago. 

And yet, it’s true. Through 12 rough-and-tumble weeks, the Packers are sitting at 9-3, despite being beat-up to an almost hilarious degree.

Next week is the much-needed bye week, and we’re all thankful for that. If I can pull everything together, I’ll have a fun post in this place next week. But for today? Today we look back on Week 12 and talk about a few plays. I’m ready if you are.

Play 1: 3rd & 2, 9:55 remaining in the 1st quarter

The Packers had the quick game working against the Rams, which makes sense. When your offensive line is basically second-and-third-stringers across the board (no offense to those gentlemen, who played a nice game overall), you want to get the ball out of your quarterback’s hands quickly. That’s doubly true when you’re facing a defense line with Aaron Donald and Von Miller and a defense that likes to play out of a lot of two-high shells. If the defense has a good pass rush and is trying to take away the deep plays, take the short game all day.

It helps when you have a guy like Davante Adams [17] playing out of the slot. This play is Stick, a short game staple of pretty much every team in the league. The Packers run it multiple times per game. You can dress it up different ways, but it’s pretty much a short out route with an option route to the inside. The option route can run a slant, out or quick-hitch – or “stick” route – behind it. It’s often run out of Trips formation, with the outside receiver running a vertical route to clear out space.

On the pre-snap read, Aaron Rodgers [12] already knows where the ball is going. The defender over Adams is a linebacker, shaded to the inside shoulder. Adams is going to be running an out route. If the slot defender crashes on Adams to trap the route, Rodgers will throw to Randall Cobb [18].

The defender doesn’t crash. The Rams just left a linebacker shaded to Adams’ inside shoulder. Like that’s something acceptable to do. Like it’s something society will allow. Adams wins easily, Rodgers hits Adams and it turns into a 15 yard gain.

Play 2: 3rd & 3, 12:00 remaining in the 2nd quarter

We’re going to wade away from quick game for a bit and look at the complete opposite of that. We’re moving to Verts. Three verts, I guess? 

On paper, it’s an easy concept. Basically, run vertically and adjust your route based on coverage. Or, to quote the great Charles De Mar, “Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.” It can be lethal as long as the quarterback and receiver are seeing the same things.

The Packers are in a 2X2 look and the Rams have a single-high safety shaded over the offensive left. At the snap, he rotates back into the middle of the field.

Cobb pushes at the outside shoulder of Donte Deayon [21]. Deayon turns to carry Cobb up the field. Cobb simply adjusts his route to the inside. With the safety rotating and his defender flipped, there’s a nice little spot of space. Cobb catches the ball, the safety overpursues, and Cobb has a lot of green grass.

By the time all is said and done, it’s a 54 yard gain.

Of course, it’s not as easy as all that. Ernest Jones [50] had a fairly deep drop, so Rodgers has to get the ball over the top of Jones, but it needs to drop in before the safety can get there.

I believe the technical description for this is “great googly moogly.”

Play 3: 3rd & 5, 9:48 remaining in the 2nd quarter

We talked about Stick earlier. One of the ways to punish teams for leaning on Stick is to trot out Stick-and-Nod. The Packers take that up a notch and run dual Stick-and-Nod. You sell the out routes, catch the defense leaning, then break vertically. When run right against a defense that’s leaning, Stick-and-Nod is one of my favorite things to watch.

Cobb is in the left slot and Adams is outside. They both take a break on the out route at the same time, then break up field. Darious Williams [11] is over Adams and he’s not biting on the out route, so when Adams breaks upfield, Williams is capping the route. 

But Cobb? Cobb has Deayon again. Deayon leans hard on the out cut and is on Cobb’s hip, so when Cobb breaks upfield, Deayon is totally unprepared. Rodgers sees that Cobb is winning on the route, so he throws.

Unfortunately, there’s a great deal of contact on the route. Cobb can’t break free and the pass falls incomplete. A real shame. This would have been pretty.

The Packers are running Spot/Snag to the other side, but Rodgers never looks that way. Why? Because the single-high safety is shading to that side, so Rodgers reads the Stick-and-Nod side first. Cobb wins the route, so there’s no reason to look elsewhere.

Play 4: 1st & 10, 7:15 remaining in the 2nd quarter

A big play doesn’t always have to come in the form of a deep throw. Sometimes it’s just as simple as finding your playmakers quickly in space and letting them work. On this play, the Packers run what appears to be their Middle Read Dagger concept, with Allen Lazard [13] pushing from the slot and looking to split the two-high safeties, while Marquez Valdes-Scantling [83] runs a dig underneath. It’s a concept the Packers liked a lot last year, and I think they like it even more this year.

Rodgers looks to Adams on the backside hitch first, but a linebacker drops into the throwing lane, so Rodgers moves on to Dagger.

The Rams aren’t letting them win with that. Not on this play. No sir. They drop back deep underneath the concept. So what does Rodgers do? He simply hits Cobb in the flat with a lot of room to move.

Cobb catches the ball, gets vertical and makes a man miss on his way to a glorious 27 yard gain.

Play 5: 1st & 10, 1:23 remaining in the 2nd quarter

With the clock winding down at the end of the first half, the Packers go with the Double China concept (something I’ve also heard called “Dusty”) on the trips side. Double China is two in-cutting routes from the outside, with a corner route over the top. For Packers fans, the play that will likely come to mind first is the second Greg Jennings TD in the Super Bowl. 

Generally, this route is run with two short in-cutters, cutting around the same depth. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the Packers run it with routes this deep. In addition to the routes being deeper than normal, the breaks are also staggered. It’s more of a corner route over a Levels concept, but now we’re still getting in the weeds.

Whatever you want to call it, the Packers have two in-cutting routes from the outside and MVS running a corner from “3” slot. The Rams are in a split-field safety alignment, with the safety to the trips side basically playing straight over Adams in the slot.

MVS pushes hard up the field, drawing not only his man, but also drawing the attention of both safeties. The trips safety is dropping back to respect the speed of MVS, while the other safety is angling back and keeping an eye on the middle of the field, ready to drive if the throw goes there.

With MVS helping to clear that side, Adams is now matched-up on Ramsey. Adams has inside leverage and uses that when he breaks off on the dig. With no one in the middle, Adams has a nice little window and Rodgers hits him.

The throw is a little low, which is a good thing (and likely intentional). With the safety looking to drive to the middle, a throw that leads Adams perfectly likely ends in a big hit. By throwing low, Adams is able to go down and protect himself.

Play 6: 4th & 2, 8:41 remaining in the 3rd quarter

On 4th & 2, the Packers went to an old friend: Slant/flat. When you need a couple yards, you’ll often see teams go with a concept they’re extremely familiar with. And when I think Packers, slant/flat is one of the first concepts that comes to mind. Rodgers is so good at looking off defenders when going to their quick game, creating tiny windows in a small amount of time.

On the left side, they go slant/flat with Josiah Deguara [81] on a sit route, while they go with a follow-slant on the right. Rodgers hits the top of his drop and sets to fire to Adams, but the Rams are ready for it, dropping a couple linebackers to that side. 

With Adams out, Rodgers comes back to the middle and the sit route. Deguara comes out of the break, then drifts ever-so-slightly away from the middle defender to provide just a little more room.

It’s not a ton – just a half step – but I really like the awareness to just buy that little extra space.

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Really fun week. Always nice to head into the bye week with a big win. Beyond that, I’ve really enjoyed watching how LaFleur has changed up the approach depending on the opponent. It’s something he has done since he arrived, but he gets better at it every week. When the Packers are hitting the quick-game, it’s just really beautiful to watch, so I had a blast with this one.

Like I said, I’m hoping to pull something fun and interesting together for next week in this space, so I’m hyped about that. Enjoy the bye week, everybody!

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Albums listened to: Rock Plaza Central – Are We Not Horses?; The Perishers – Let There Be Morning; Tegan & Sara – The Con; Keren Ann – Keren Ann; Roy Orbison – Mystery Girl; Charly Bliss – Young Enough; Damien Jurado – Ghost of David; Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson – Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson; Koushik – Out My Window; Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising