Packers Vs. Lions - 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 try to focus on a theme, the less obvious, or things I didn't notice watching live. These are not likely to be "highlight" plays.
Wicks' hands - What happened to Dontayvion Wicks? Wicks added two more drops to his 2024 resume, which now totals six for the season. What makes it worse is that WIcks has the most red zone targets of any wide receiver on the team, with seven. He does have four touchdowns on the season and could have added another by pulling in a fourth quarter pass in the end zone that certainly was thrown behind him but was still catchable. The main problem, which showed up in an earlier drop, (both are shown here) was instead of positioning his hands to catch it first in his hands, he was looking to pull the ball against his body. His palms are facing up instead of facing the ball. Unless it's a bomb,where the ball drops in to you, you can't make a hands-only catch with your palms facing up.
Watson hands - To provide some contrast to Wicks above, here's Christian Watson catching a poorly thrown ball that is very much behind him by extending strong hands and catching the ball with those hands only. Only then does he secure the ball into his body. Also, note the great job Chris Brooks does picking up the stunting linebacker by stopping him cold, which also then interferes with the trailing blitzer.
Enagbare Appreciation Video - I just had to give some love to Kingsley Enagabre, who may not be the most gifted, but gives his all on every play. First he sniffs out that wacky reverse the Lions tried in the fourth quarter (don't let any Lions fans tell you Detroit sat on the lead and stopped trying to score). Even more impressive to me, is the hustle he shows on the second play. It's first down for the Lions with 2:09 left in te game and the Packers have no timeouts. The game is basically over, but that doesn't matter to Enagbare. He gets cut by the tight end and most players would have just stayed down. Instead, he bounces up and chases after Montgomery, jumping over his own player on the ground and makes the tackle. The play had little meaning with regarding to the outcome of the game, but it says everything about the man's heart.
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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 (20)
JerseyAl
November 05, 2024 at 01:36 pm
A quick note. I just got done listening to LaFleur's press conference from yesterday. In it, he happens to mention the poor technique of trying to make body catches instead of hand catches. I just want to clarify that this post was written last night, and I hadn't heard LaFleur's comments until today. I'm mentioning this not to toot my own horn but rather Just in case any of the cynics in here are thinking I just jumped on what he said to write this. Cynics? What? Yeah, I know you're out there!
Cheezehead72
November 05, 2024 at 02:42 pm
Al I like to think of myself as pessimistic not cynical. Good article
coolhand
November 05, 2024 at 02:42 pm
My pop warner coach always told us kids to never try and catch the ball in your chest as it will bounce off your pads, Better to catch it with your hands or in your belly.
Packers'Dynasties6of16-5of7-next....
November 06, 2024 at 07:52 pm
Al, my wife and 2 of my sons are huge Packer fans and we watch all of games and enjoy Cheeshead TV. We all watched the videos you posted of Jordan's 2 passes to Wicks and then Jordan's pass to Watson.
What stood out most to all of us more than anything else were that 2 of Jordan's 3 throws were very poorly thrown, timed and inaccurate.
The 4th quarter throw to Wicks which starts at 7 seconds of the video has Jordan off balance and throwing off one leg and as you said "certainly was thrown behind him". Wicks was running full speed to the right sideline and had to twist himself around severely to attempt to catch the ball.
Jordan's throw to Watson in the 2nd video was even worse than the 4th quarter throw to Wicks . Christian is running full speed to the right sideline and also has to stop his momentum and do a pirouette and miraculously makes the catch. In fact, Christian probably saved Jordan from yet another interception on that play.
Wide receivers should not have to be contortionists and ballerinas to catch passes.
Luckily the Packers seem to have several such receivers in Doubs, Watson, Reed, Melton and Health.
As I am sure you know, there are several football analytical sites that have analysts that watch and evaluate quarterbacks' accuracy to give readers a measure beyond the traditional completion percentage. Some sites define passes as "On Target" and "Bad Throws":
On-Tgt% (On-Target%)
The percentage of throws that did not require the receiver to unnecessarily adjust. Excludes spikes, miscommunications, Hail Mary throws, and passes that were batted down.
Bad Throws: By QBs - throws that weren't catchable with normal effort.
We all thought that 2 of Jordan's 3 throws in the videos were "Bad Throws", even the pass that Christian caught!!
Jordan's inaccuracy is obviously confirmed by the traditional measure of his 61.3% completion % (32nd among Qbs with 100 or more pass attempts) this year and 64.2% completion % (26th among QBs with 140 or more pass attempts) last year without having to look into Jordan's "On-Target %"
There are just too many data points out there to consider Jordan an accurate quarterback relative to the majority of NFL Qbs.
That said we agree with you that Wicks palms should NOT be facing up on passes that are on a line to him.
Also Malik Wilis - though the sample size is only 39 - is completing 74.4% of his passes, so that is good.
Goff is at 74.9% and if you watch Goff, he makes it very easy for his receivers and no hospital balls.
PeteK
November 05, 2024 at 01:46 pm
Inconsistent play from the O line (especially penalties, poor snaps) and drops really hamstrung us in this game. Was anybody else surprised that the officials nor broadcasters noticed the targeting hit. That hit could have been used on a teaching video, NY office had to make the call, really.
Cheezehead72
November 05, 2024 at 02:44 pm
From what I understand it was communication between NY and the officials on the field. I would rather have more opinions on an ejection from a hit. I wish NY would chime in on fighting and ensure the first player gets penalized.
HawkPacker
November 05, 2024 at 04:18 pm
My wife and I were watching the game at home and as soon as I saw their safety lead with his helmet I told my wife that he is going to get thrown out of the game. To me, it was just that obvious!
I wondered why the call took so long to be made.
relleum61
November 05, 2024 at 02:43 pm
Wicks has been called Adams 2.0. It looks like a replay of Adams second season when he had a number of drops.
Kingsley Enagabre has played well this year and he is going to get even more snaps as Preston Smith has been traded. Preston was a solid Packer during his time in the Green & Gold...thank you for the memories. Not a surprise trade considering his salary hit...
Cheezehead72
November 05, 2024 at 02:46 pm
James Jones had the same problem. I would love to see the Packers bring him in to tutor our receivers on how he worked through it. Gute give him a call. Al call Gute and tell him.
13TimeChamps
November 05, 2024 at 03:29 pm
One significant difference. Adams, to my knowledge, never had drop issues in college. With Wicks, it was the major knock on him entering the draft. And, unfortunately, it's continuing as a pro, at least this year. It's frustrating because he seems very talented, particularly his ability to get open consistently, but his catch % this year is horrible. I hope he, or his coaches, get it figured out.
Guam
November 05, 2024 at 02:56 pm
Enagbare is about to get a bunch more snaps per game with the Preston Smith trade and they have been well earned. Enagbare has been the most consistent Packer DE all year and as Al pointed out, a very high motor, high effort guy.
splitpea1
November 05, 2024 at 03:31 pm
Wicks: Should be a simple matter of correcting the technique and practicing enough so it becomes habit on the field. His 37.2% catch rate is ghastly, second worst in the NFL. Last season he was at 67.2%. But he's the best at separation among our WRs, so the Packers are going to have to get it fixed.
Savage57
November 05, 2024 at 04:45 pm
*Droptayvion.
Booner
November 05, 2024 at 05:32 pm
MLF should not be a head coach!
Leatherhead
November 05, 2024 at 05:53 pm
Watson and Wicks are going to have to make catches for us if we intend to make the playoffs. They're too good to sit on the bench, but too unreliable to throw it to. Throw it to Reed or Doubs or Kraft instead. Give it to Jacobs more. I love their skills, but neither of them are helping us that much as a receiver, although I do want to give Watson credit for his blocking. He's the 2024 version of Lazard.
Coldworld
November 06, 2024 at 12:22 am
Watson is going to have a bigger role. So are Melton and even Heath. Wicks has been over used this season and particularly at key moments. We may actually get better with less often open and more often caught.
Rhah
November 06, 2024 at 04:59 am
I want to see more Doubs targets in the endzone. He normally has good hands. Last year he had a bunch of TDs.
T7Steve
November 06, 2024 at 08:05 am
Thanks Al. I was impressed with Watson in this game too. Seemed about the first time I remember him being used more in the mid-range, than the just deep routes. I think that sets him up better to block for runs and scrambles too.
The most we lose with the Smith trade is reliability. He was one you could always count on to show up. Wonder if they asked him how he felt about the deal first? He earned that respect from the team like Jones did. It remains to be seen who will step in to fill his leadership role.
ricky
November 06, 2024 at 11:13 am
As far as poor pass catching technique by Wicks, the coaches need to be on him to do things right. And if Wicks refuses to listen, bench him for a game or two. For me, it's very simple: if the ball hits your hands, it should be caught. That is why the team signed you; that is your job. However, it seems the team had a similar problem with Valdez-Scantling. One other random thought. When was the last time anyone heard the name AJ Dillon mentioned by anyone? It seems he is going to be the "odd man out", either with an injury waiver, or the Packers just let him go at the start of next year, so he has a chance to catch on with another team.
T7Steve
November 06, 2024 at 12:35 pm
I heard someone on ESPN radio (I think Freddy Colman) saying that Dallas should go for Dillon before the trade deadline. I think mostly for his blocking and pass catching. That's the first I've heard of him, but I didn't think he could be traded off the season ending injury proclamation type thing the Packers have him on. Are there ways around that stuff that doesn't affect the Packers' cap hit?