You don’t need some long preamble from me to tell you what we saw this past week. We saw something that was not fun! We’ve been seeing something that hasn’t been fun.

However…

It wasn’t all bad. As always, the Packers put some fun stuff on tape in terms of the design of the offense, even if the execution wasn’t always where it needed to be. They also had a nice plan to keep Love upright in the face of Brian Flores' unhinged machinations, but we'll get to that later.

Let’s get into the passing game, starting with a peek at Jordan Love’s passing chart.

We’ve got a bit more of a balanced chart than we’ve been seeing over the last few games. Love is back to having a negative CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expected), but, if not for some drops, he would easily be in the positive. PFF had Packers receivers with 4 drops (which seems low, but drop numbers are usually conservative), giving Love an adjusted completion percentage of 70.0%. I don’t know which plays they marked as drops, but I’m going to guess that the interception - a deep pass that found its way into Reed’s hands before being ripped away - was not one of them.

My point being, we’re a couple of better plays from receivers away from feeling pretty good about this game. Or not, depending on your current state of mind.

To the surprise of no one, the Vikings brought a lot of pressure, blitzing Love on 40.8% of his dropbacks (per PFF). On those blitzes, Love went 12/19 (63.2%) for 104 yards (5.5 YPA) and a TD. All 4 of the listed drops came on blitzes, bringing his adjusted completion percentage on blitzes to 84.2%. 

Love’s ADOT (Average Depth of Target) was 4.7 yards on blitzes (with a 2.16 time to throw) and 13.9 yards on non-blitzes (with a 3.23 time to throw). Basically, know where your quick-hitters are if they bring the heat and look deeper down the field when they drop off.

The Packers came in with a nice plan to deal with some of the pressures the Vikings would be bringing. You know what? Let’s get to the film for a couple plays, the first of which shows part of that plan.

Play 1: 3rd & 6, 4:15 remaining in the 2nd quarter

As I mentioned, the Packers came in with a plan for dealing with this aggressive, shifting monster that Brian Flores is dialing up every week. They largely abandoned their play action game in favor of a solid plan against the waves of pressure they would be seeing (their play action rate of 8.1% was their lowest of the season). The focus on the protection plan was in the forefront of the Packers minds, and that seemed to be a wise choice. 

On multiple plays, the Packers had their running backs up in the “sniffer” role to aid in potential protection issues up the middle. The sniffer is a RB who is aligned a couple yards behind a guard, putting him closer to the line of scrimmage than the QB in shotgun. It's basically like the RB was offset to the side of the QB in shotgun, then took a couple steps toward the line before the snap.

On the above screenshot, you can see Dillon in the sniffer role. The Vikings have the line packed. The Packers don’t know if the Vikings are going to be bringing all those guys, but they have to prepare as if they are. In the play we're looking at, the Vikings are mugging the A gap, which is one of the main reasons you'll see offenses use a sniffer. That double-mug A-gap look is something that former Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer was known for, but you'll now see it used across the league as a part of defenses' sim pressure package.

What a team will try to do with a sim pressure is to show pressure up the middle by mugging the A gap, forcing the offensive line to account for it, then dropping out into coverage. You’ll sometimes see this paired with an overload blitz from one side of the line. Basically, get the interior to pinch the middle, drop them out then bring 3-4 guys to one side of the line after you’ve adjusted protection. The offensive line has to react as if the pressure is coming up the middle, because if the pressure comes and they don’t have anyone to pick it up, the QB will get blown up with a quickness.

(Above is a hastily-drawn sim pressure/overload "blitz" I did after midnight. You're welcome.)

Sim pressures are diabolical and beautiful.

Anyway, here we are on 3rd & 6, with the Packers down 10-0 late in the 2nd quarter and the Vikings - as you saw in the screenshot above - are packing the line. As part of that, they’re mugging the A gap. The Packers have 6 men on the line and they split the protection down the middle, with the left 3 blocking left and the right 3 blocking right. That has Josh Myers [71] picking up the mugger to his right and the mugger to the left accounted for by Dillon in the sniffer role.

On top of that, the Vikings are stunting in the middle over the Elgton Jenkins [74]/AJ Dillon [28] portion. Truly evil stuff, and yet Jenkins & Dillon pick it up beautifully.

The Vikings end up bringing everyone except the mugger to Myers right, who ends up with an initial push then drops back into coverage to rob the middle of the field.

The protection holds up, the stunt is picked up beautifully, and Love has time to hit Christian Watson [9] on an isolated curl route on the left for 11 yards and a 1st down.

Nice plan against this rush and some nice execution up front. Hats off to Dillon and Jenkins for flawlessly picking up that stunt.

Play 2: 4th & 1, 2:42 remaining in the 3rd quarter

Last week we looked at the ricochet TD to Jayden Reed [11] off an RPO. 

We don’t need to spend a lot of time with this, but it’s worth a refresher. The idea on that passing combo is to have Reed fire off the line and create space for a slant from Romeo Doubs [87]. 

This specific play is part of their RPO game, and the result is complicated by the defensive end jumping in the throwing lane, but you can see how the play was designed to work. It’s something we’ve seen from the Packers a handful of times over the years in the low red zone, though not nearly as much as I would like. That follow-slant concept is tough to defend in that area of the field, where even a half-step of hesitation can cause someone to spring wide open.

Regardless of how often the Packers have run it in the past, they had just run it against the Broncos the previous week. Meaning this Vikings team has seen it on film as part of their low red zone package.

Enter this play.

After three failed attempts to punch the ball into the end zone from the 1 yard line, the Packers are facing 4th & goal, down 24-3 late in the 3rd quarter. Just like last week, they start with a bunch, but motion Christian Watson [9] across the formation before the snap, leaving a stack look with Reed as the front man and Doubs as the back man. 

It’s the exact same look, the only real difference being what side of the formation the stack is on. If you look at the way the Vikings defenders are lined up, it’s clear this is what they’re looking for. They’re playing tight, with the inside defender looking to stay under the pick from Reed and jump the slant.

Just like last week, Reed runs straight up the field to build a wall, while Doubs takes a couple steps to the slant. The Vikings are looking to pick it up, but then Doubs reverses course. Instead of a slant, he reverses back out to the flat. The Vikings try to switch coverage assignments, but it’s too late.

Love puts the ball on Doubs, who snatches the ball out of the air for the TD.

Really nice design in this area of the field, and it’s especially nice since it plays off something the Packers know the Vikings are likely an eye out for.

As I’ve been doing every week, I got a chance to sit down with John Kuhn and run through some plays with him, so make sure you check that out. This week we took a look at the first three 3rd downs the Packers had on offense...which only counted as a single official play. SPOOKY SEASON!

Albums listened to: Gaslight Anthem - History Books; Angie McMahon - Light, Dark, Light Again; The Kills - God Games; Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor’s Version)