A win! Do you remember those? The last one was on September 24th, so I’ll forgive you if the details are a bit fuzzy.

We came here for a purpose, so let’s get to it. We’re here to look at the Packers passing game, so let’s start where we always do: with Jordan Love’s passing chart.

If you didn’t see the face at the bottom, you could look at this and easily envision it as an Aaron Rodgers chart. A completion percentage of 76.9%, CPOE of +6.5% and the majority of the targets outside the numbers. Both the completion % (76.9%) and adjusted completion % (87.5%) were Love’s best marks of the year.

The line did a nice job keeping Love upright this week. Per PFF, Love averaged 2.90 seconds to throw (his second-longest time to throw this year, just barely behind his 2.93 mark in the week 3 win over the Saints), yet was only under pressure on 22.6% of his dropbacks.

Overall, I like what I saw from Love this week. There are still some issues with accuracy that have been flaring up (the miss to Christian Watson looms pretty large), but, in a rainy game, I thought he looked pretty good. 

Over the last couple of weeks, it seems like there has been a shift in how the Packers have been operating. One of those things that has changed has been Love’s approach to the deep ball. Going back to training camp, there has been an emphasis on putting more air under the ball. It feels like we’ve seen more of the “I’m gonna drive this ball” approach to Love over the last couple of weeks, and the results have been better. There is still a little ways to go in terms of it looking great, but it seems like it has allowed him to play in a way that he is more comfortable with. I’ve enjoyed seeing the shift and I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes over the rest of the season.

Let’s get to the film. We’re going to look at two plays today, both highlighting how the Packers are looking to attack the way defenses have been playing them in the middle of the field.

Play 1: 2nd & 4, 5:49 remaining in the 3rd quarter

This year, we’ve seen a lot of defenses spot-dropping their linebackers in the middle of the field. It harkens back to a simpler way of playing defense, and it can be an effective way to take away the middle of the field. There are still ways to attack the middle of the field, of course - we’ve seen Love work in some no-look passes in an attempt to anchor the linebackers in place - but there’s another solution to this problem: target outside the numbers.

Targeting outside the numbers typically leads to harder throws - the ball has to travel more yards in the air, giving the defense more time to react - but if a defense is intent on taking away the middle of the field, that can lead to a little more space outside the numbers than they might normally see.

This first play is something I tag as Sail. It’s a concept we have typically only seen off play action boot, but the Packers have also been working this into their dropback game a little more this year. It consists of a deep route (typically a Go or Deep Corner route), an intermediate route (typically a crosser) and a flat route. Three routes running parallel to each other on different planes.

The Packers get to that here from a stack look and motion. Christian Watson [9] is running the deep route from the top of the stack, Dontayvion Wicks [13] is running the intermediate route (an out route, in this case) and Josiah Deguara [81] is running the flat route off motion.

Watson and Wicks push vertically at the snap. We have seen the Packers run a version of Dagger out of this specific look many times (earlier in this very game, as a matter of fact). That concept is designed to attack the intermediate middle of the field. With the linebackers dropping deep, it’s a tough concept to get to work. 

Sail? Sail can work nicely.

Deguara works as the flat control, holding a defender shallow. Watson’s deep route takes the deep safety and the boundary defender with him. That leaves a nice little window for Wicks.

Wicks breaks to the outside and Love delivers the ball right on the numbers. Packers pick up 18 and a 1st down.

Play 2: 1st & 10, 5:06 remaining in the 3rd quarter

This is the very next play and the Packers find another way to attack spot-dropping linebackers: just weave your way through them.

The Packers are in 12 personnel, with Luke Musgrave [88] and Tucker Kraft [85] aligned tight on the line in a YY Wing look on the right (Musgrave is aligned inside and Kraft outside). Romeo Doubs [87] is wide to the left, with Dontayvion Wicks [13] aligned slightly inside. 

The Packers use Wicks on “cheat” motion, quick-motioning out pre-snap and releasing vertically up the left sideline. Doubs releases on a deep over route from the left. Those two routes remove the boundary defenders.

Musgrave releases from his inside position of the YY Wing alignment and makes his way across the field. With the spot-dropping linebackers, he just weaves his way between them, emerging over the top of the linebacker to the left. That linebacker turns to pick him up, but not before Musgrave is already even. Love has enough time in the pocket to wait for Musgrave to uncover, then goes over the top for a 25 yard gain.

I really like the delayed route from Kraft on this as well. Block out initially, then break to the middle. If the middle is vacated due to the route of Musgrave, there should be a nice little pocket of space for Kraft. A nice design against this Rams defensive look, and the line did a nice job giving Love the time he needed.

Play 3: 2nd & 7, 3:46 remaining in the 4th quarter

I cover it in this week’s Packers Playbook, but this was such a fun play that I wanted to make sure it lived somewhere else, as well. 

The Packers are up 13-3 late in the 4th quarter against a Rams offense that hadn’t been able to do much of anything all day. The game was effectively over, but this play drove the stake deep in their chest.

It’s a really fun play that works well in the Packers system, so I was very much looking forward to the day when they would run it. And lo, that day was this past Sunday.

The Packers come out in Pony Personnel, with Aaron Jones [33] and AJ Dillon [28] on the field at the same time. Jones is initially lined up in the right slot, but he motions behind Love before the snap. At the snap, Jones flares out to the left and Dillon flares out to the right.

The two outside receivers are pushing vertically and the Rams are showing a split-safety look.

Love fakes a throw to Jones, then turns to fake a throw to Dillon. The fake to Jones pulls the defensive end out, while the fake to Dillon pulls the linebackers out of the middle. Meanwhile, the vertical routes from the receivers pull the safeties to the boundary.

All that movement completely clears the middle of the field for Musgrave, who is running a block-and-release.

Musgrave catches the ball, then veers back to the inside to evade the closing safety.

Absolutely beautiful. I tried my hand at diagramming this by hand and was reminded, once again, just how terrible my handwriting is.

(I sketched this up in The Play Caller's Club Field Diagram Notebook: a fun little book I picked up in the offseason that makes me feel like I know what I'm doing.)

Unfortunately, John Kuhn was unavailable this week, but I still did my level best to put out a good Packers Playbook this week. I took a look at the touchdown to Luke Musgrave by looking at how the Rams defended a similar play earlier in the game, then I looked at a well-blocked end-around.

Albums listened to: The Beatles - Now and Then; George Harrison - All Things Must Pass; Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Summer of Fear; Taking Back Sunday - 152; The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein; The Mountain Goats - Jenny From Thebes; Tiny Skulls - Songs From Some Depressing Movie