Packers Vs. Cardinals - 3 Plays That Make You Go Hmmm
Jersey Al picks out three thought-provoking plays from the Packers' last game.
By JerseyAl
After re-watching the Packers game, here are three plays that made me go hmmm, for various reasons. In general, I either focus on a theme, more nuanced observations, or just things I didn't notice watching live. These can be but are less likely to be "highlight" plays. I present these to you with a short explanation why I picked them and then let you readers discuss the plays.
3rd and six - On a day that featured so many third down issues, it makes sense to highlight one of them, right? The question was, which one to choose? As is my want here, I tried to pick a less obvious one. Before you read on, I'll ask you to watch the video and guess what I am trying to highlight here. Go ahead, I'll wait...
No, it's not Walker getting put on skates. It's not the fact that everyone is covered, which is what Vilma was highlighting with the yellow circles. It's the route design. The Packers go quad to the left side and one receiver (Doubs) on the right side. Shades of Mike McCarthy, no? Two of the receivers run deep corner routes to the far left sideline (on third and six!), the two others on the left set up for a wide receiver screen, and Doubs chips a rusher (why?) before heading out into a route. The only route that had a chance was the wide receiver screen, but it would have required an immediate decision to throw it there and Love is looking downfield as his primary target. The biggest problem I have is that there is no check down worked into this concept in case Love is under pressure. Before you say this was a one off, there was another failed third and six later in the game where once again, there was no easy pass for Love to throw (all the receivers running downfield). Add in some of the horrible run calls they used on third and short and the Packers should rip these pages out of the third and makeable section of their playbook.
Cooper on McBride - On a day when the Packers twice completely lost track of the Cardinals' primary red zone weapon, (I'm looking at you Quay Walker and Keisean Nixon), at least Edgerrin Cooper understood his assignment here. The fact that he can stay with McBride straight down the field and even make up ground over the last few steps to ensure McBride doesn't complete the catch is just a great job by him. This is they type of play I had envisioned Cooper being capable of when he was drafted by the Packers, but haven't seen much of. Could using Cooper on tight ends more often as opposed to a safety or nickel corner help the secondary out? I think so.
Colby Wooden - I just love when a big man sniffs out a screen pass. This is something Kenny Clark was very good at, and earlier this year, I highlighted Devonte Wyatt in this column doing the same thing. Wooden had himself a hell of a day overall and seems to be ascending as an inside force after adding weight this offseason. But here, let's laud him for his smarts and quickness to snuff out this screen pass. As soon as Wooden feels the center let him go, he doesn't waste a second going after the quarterback. He immediate turns and looking left, see's nothing, so he looks right, sees the receiver and sprints towards him and is able to bring him down. Nice job, big guy!
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"Jersey Al" Bracco is the Editor-In-Chief, part owner and wearer of various hats for CheeseheadTV.com and PackersTalk.com. He's a lifetime Packers fan living in the land of the Giants (and Jets). Follow Al on twitter at @JerseyalGBP.
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Comments (12)
splitpea1
October 21, 2025 at 03:22 pm
Play 1: Use the middle of the field! Doubs might have gotten there in time if he hadn't chipped. Or have Kraft sit down at the sticks instead of continuing up field. A strange call ignoring situational awareness.
Play 2: Terrific instincts by Cooper knowing the ball was coming his way without even getting his head turned around. There's more here than just being a Johnny-on-the-spot.
KenEllis
October 21, 2025 at 03:52 pm
If Jordan Love hits Doubs with a TD on that first drive (on the 4th and 5 play) maybe things turn out differently, but outside of the beautiful play that ended up with the pass to Kraft for a TD, I thought this was a boring, ineffective, bland game plan.
Don't know what, if anything, Wicks (15), Heath (21), and Musgrave (22) offer to get a combined 58 snaps and perhaps it is time for MLF to get Golden and maybe Watson more involved in the offense.
davekenya
October 21, 2025 at 03:53 pm
Play 1: At the end of the play (in the lower right corner) we see 1 defender successfully covering 2 Packer receivers....hmmm...One of the 2 should have made himself more available to Love as the play broke down - it looks like if Brooks had run even parallel towards the LOS from the left sideline, he'd've been both closer to Love and open. Brooks doesn't get many reps, so there's that. Love originally tripped himself and fell, true?
Play 2: Love that Cooper had the 'in the moment, advanced cover guy' skill to, on seeing the WR reach both hands up to catch a ball about to arrive, Cooper realizes quickly putting his own arm/hand between the WR's hands prevents a catch. So often, cover guys who are 'beat' WAIT until the ball is 'caught' and then try to knock it loose or simply tackle. It's a cat-like, nano-second-like reaction to understand the receiver is putting his hands out b/c the ball's just arriving...and to disrupt the attempted catch w/o DPI. Top notch!
EricTorkelson
October 21, 2025 at 05:36 pm
Love tripped and fell ?? or he got a 325 lbs OT thrown into him in 3.5 seconds
davekenya
October 21, 2025 at 03:55 pm
My own 'hmmm' (more an uh-oh) was the 2nd TO called just outside the 2 minute mark at the end of game. If GB didn't make it on 4th down, that extra TO would have been essential to having any hope of getting the ball back from the Cards.
KenEllis
October 21, 2025 at 05:44 pm
Hmmm or WTF was MLF thinking?
If you call that stupid 3rd and 1 pitch play to Jacob with Luke Musgrave as his lead blocker and it, predictably, gets stuffed (MLF to his credit called it a shitty play at his press conference yesterday), how in the world do you not already have a 4th down play call in mind?
Thanks Jordan for convincing MLF to man up and make the CORRECT decision to go for it on 4th down and try and WIN the game.
7 years in, that was a real head scratcher moment or MLF.
Ihappydirt
October 21, 2025 at 05:14 pm
Here's what made me go hmmm ...
Parsons getting called for the hip drop tackle when his legs landed to the side or in front of the QB's legs. He would have ended up with 4 sacks, and that was a critical call for the Cards.
The following is from an article about a 2025 update to the rule: So, this is how Rule 12, Section 2, Article 18 now reads: “It is a foul if a player uses the following technique to bring a runner to the ground:
(a) grabs the runner with one or both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and (b) unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and/or trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.”
EricTorkelson
October 21, 2025 at 06:39 pm
First off Jersey Al this is one off my favorite weekly articles.
(1) Third and 6 ... Horrible play design and execution. Everything flowing deep to the left, and the screen deep to the left with Brooks looking not to interested in making himself available. Also, with R Walker getting road into loves left side in 3.5 seconds Love had no chance to get the ball in that direction anyway.
(2) Cooper and coverage, great play by cooper when you consider McBride quickness off the line and speed downfield. Not many linebackers could keep up with him and display great awareness to get his hands up right when the ball was arriving.
(3) Wooden great instinctive play also. Theres a lot of movement going on and to decipher which way the ball is going for Wooden was really impressive. Wooden needs to hold down the fort until Devonte Wyatt gets back. However, winning a Superbowl with 280 to 290 lbs DL in a league were 330 DL giants usually hold residence will not be an easy task for the Packers.
PeteK
October 21, 2025 at 06:39 pm
Wooden has definitely improved, 20 TKLs and 3 for lost yds. When Wyatt comes back, we should be impenetrable. A win is most important, but it has been a roller coaster ride so far. I believe we need better O line play to get this offense humming, especially a more consistent running game.
EricTorkelson
October 21, 2025 at 06:47 pm
Love your enthusiasm Petek ... but the Packer DL being impenetrable this year might just only be green and gold dreaming.
PeteK
October 22, 2025 at 06:56 am
Yes a bit of hoping, but we are #2 against the run without Wyatt. Versus pass is another story.
Starrbrite
October 21, 2025 at 07:49 pm
I’m with KenEllis…and Al too—what are LaFluer, Bisaccia, and the OC doing in the lab?
While watching the game, I threw up my hands a few times wondering what homeless, drug rehab, was hired this week to formulate the game plan.
Go Packers!!!