Revisiting 2019 - Week 9: Dreaming on What Could Have Been

Dusty goes back to Week 9 and breaks down 2 plays that could have swung the game in the Packers loss to the Chargers

There are a couple games throughout the 2019 season that I have dreaded going back to. This is one of them. "How am I going to find something interesting to talk about in a blowout loss, especially one that I have already written about?" Let me tell you, dear reader, it was not easy. But I am a true professional and found a couple plays to talk about. You ready? I'm ready. Let's look back and dream on what could have been.

Play 1: 3rd & 8, 13:35 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Packers trailing 0-9

The Chargers had dominated the game up until this point, but they were unable to come up with any touchdowns. At this point in the game, the Chargers had gained 225 yards while the Packers had gained a measly 37 yards. Still, the Packers were only down 9 points at the start of the second half. More than enough time to mount a comeback.

Facing 3rd & 8, Aaron Rodgers [12] took a shot to Jake Kumerow [16].

Kumerow is running a deep crossing route, starting from the right side of the line. Rodgers is reading the field right-to-left. He briefly looks at Davante Adams [17] on the outside, but Casey Hayward [26] is playing inside position, which usually isn't a great situation to throw a slant against. (Adams ends up beating Hayward, but Rodgers has moved on by that point.)

He moves to Allison, running a slant under the vertical route from Kumerow, but the defense collapses on that route. Allison isn't open, but the match-up on Kumerow looks favorable. Kumerow is essentially one-on-one with a safety and running full steam. 

Rodgers loads up and tosses a beauty to Kumerow. By the time the ball arrives, Kumerow has a step on the defender. 

Kumerow extends his arms and sees the ball glance off his fingertips. Instead of having 1st & 10 at the 22, the Packers punt and the Chargers drive down for another field goal. Instead of cutting the lead to 9-3 or even 9-7, the Packers are down 12-0 only a few minutes later.

Play 2: 3rd & 16, 7:28 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Packers trailing 0-12

On the very next drive, the Packers are down 12 points. It's not an ideal situation, but it could be a lot worse. If the Packers get rolling, a 12 point deficit is nothing. However, after an incomplete pass and a sack, the Packers find themselves looking at 3rd & 16 and facing a pass rush that has terrorized them all day. 

The Packers are running some stuff underneath, but the real draw here is the dig from Adams under the deep out from Allen Lazard [13]. The middle of the Chargers defense is drifting back and guarding the sticks. That gives the Packers a little room behind them, and that's exactly what they're attacking.

The Chargers have a single-high safety, and he is looking at Lazard. The outside defender on Adams' side is playing outside technique. So what do we have?

1. Soft middle of the defense drifting up towards the line.
2. Single-high safety looking at the post.
3. Outside technique against a dig route, running under the safety and over the defense.

Even with all of this, the spacing is tight and the timing has to be perfect.

The ball just sails past Adams. I want to take a look at the top of his route real quick:

He rounds the top of his route a bit and looks to kind of throttle down as he comes out of the break instead of running through it and throttling down past the defender. Rodgers is throwing to where Adams would have been if he came hot out of the break, but Adams kind of pulls up. It's worth noting that this was Adams' first game back since his injury against Philadelphia. I don't believe he was back to 100% and he had just missed 4 games. Whether this was the fact that he couldn't quite cut like he wanted to or if it was a chemistry thing, I'm not sure, but it looks like a case of slightly missed timing.

Instead of picking up a 1st down, the Packers were forced to punt. The punt ended up being partially blocked and only travelling 8 yards. The Chargers scored their first touchdown 6 plays later to take a commanding 19-0 lead.


I'm not saying that the Packers would have won had these two plays gone differently, but it's not outside the realm of possibility to believe they could have provided a swing. Even in a game that ended up being a 15 point loss, these two plays had a big impact on the outcome.

If you want to look at some passing concepts from Week 9, you can do that right here.


Albums listened to: Jessica Lea Mayfield - Make My Head Sing...; Brian Fallon - Local Honey; Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors

 

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Dusty Evely is a film analyst for Cheesehead TV. He can be heard talking about the Packers on Pack-A-Day Podcast. He can be found on Twitter at @DustyEvely or email at [email protected].

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4 points
 

Comments (6)

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Point-Packer's picture

April 15, 2020 at 12:53 pm

"they just need to play" - Aaron Nagler.

Two critical plays. Two WR errors. What a load of crap take that was at the beginning of the season.

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Lphill's picture

April 15, 2020 at 07:42 pm

I think the Packers O line had more to do with the negative plays more than anything else, someone seems to be bearing down on Rodgers most of the game.

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GilbertBurger's picture

April 15, 2020 at 09:35 pm

Game of inches...even when you lose by miles

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rodic's picture

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