Leading up to this week, Washington said they were going to shut down the running game and make Aaron Rodgers beat them. The way the Packers passing game looked for most of the afternoon, we should all be lucky that Washington couldn't contain Aaron Jones. On the day, Rodgers went 18/28 (64.3%) for 195 yards and a touchdown, for a QB Rating of 96.6. Not terrible numbers, but certainly nothing eye-popping. 

That being said, there was some interesting stuff being run, so let's take a look at a few of those.

Play 1: 1st & 10, 12:50 remaining in the 1st quarter, Packers tied 0-0

The Packers came out in 13 personnel. Let's talk about that number for a second. When talking about personnel, the first number indicates the number of running backs on the field while the second number indicates the number of tight ends on the field. Since there are only 5 skill positions available on every snap, the number of wide receivers can easily be figured out. So 13 personnel means 1 running back, 3 tight ends and 1 wide receiver.

Let's keep that in mind. This is the first Packers offensive play of the game. As I mentioned at the top of the article, Washington was talking all week about wanting to force Aaron Rodgers [12] to beat them. Then, on the first offensive snap, the Packers trot out a heavy formation with 3 tight ends. To Washington, that could look like the Packers saying, "It doesn't matter what you said. We're going to run the ball down your throat, anyway." Washington responds by stacking the box.

The Packers run play action to pull the linebackers up, then run Jimmy Graham [80] on a crosser over the top. I love the pre-snap alignment of Graham. He is lined up tight to the right side of the line, with another tight end - Jace Sternberger [87] in this case - lined outside of him. Out of these alignments, you will often see the defense treat the closest-aligned tight end as a blocker, and he can often sift his way through the mess and find open space behind it. That's exactly what happens here.

All things work together perfectly. Let's run down what the Packers did to set this up:

1. Aligned with heavy personnel
2. Put Graham in a spot typically used to block
3. Used hard play action

All of that - combined with Washington wanting to back up their "make Rodgers beat us" out of the gate led to a wide open Graham and 20 easy yards. It's a nice design, but it's a tremendous playcall, executed to perfection. Beautiful all the way around.

Play 2: 1st & 10, 3:40 remaining in the 1st quarter, Packers leading 7-0

We just talked about how Graham's alignment tight to the line help to free him up, so let's run it back. This time he's on the left side, but he's still the tight end closest to the line. The Packers go with 12 personnel this time (1 running back, 2 tight ends, 2 wide receivers). Not as heavy as 13, but, with both tight ends on the left, it gets Washington thinking about a power run to the left. Adding to that is Marquez Valdes-Scantling [83] running pre-snap jet sweep motion to the left. 

All of that draws the attention of the defense to the left. Once again, Graham simply runs through it. Davante Adams [17] runs a nice clear-out route from the right, so Graham has plenty of room to move. Relatively easy 25 yards.

Play 3: 1st & 10, 10:34 remaining in the 2nd quarter, Packers leading 14-0

I covered a play similar to this last week (Play 6) so I don't know that I need to spend a ton of time with this one. I wanted to show this one, just to show how they're continuing to work on counters to their favorite concepts out of different looks.

This works off a concept the Packers run a lot: play action bootleg to levels. Basically, they'll run play action to one side and bootleg to the other, where multiple receivers will be running parallel to the quarterback at different depths. The Packers run that a lot, so this is a natural counter to that. Everything looks the same as play action bootleg, until it doesn't. Two receivers step towards the bootleg side, trying to get the defense to bite on that familiar concept. After one or two steps, they reverse field. To go along with that, instead of continuing across on his bootleg, Rodgers pulls up short and sets up for a downfield shot.

Get the defense reading your concept, then hit them with something else. It works here, but Rodgers overthrows Graham.

One last thing to point out on this. Last week the Packers ran this with a wide receiver split out on either side. This week they ran it out of a tight formation, with Jake Kumerow [16] the only wide receiver. Same concept, different look and personnel grouping. 

When looking at plays, I always look at Process over Results. If you look at the Results, this play was a failure because it ended in an incomplete pass. If you look at the Process, it was a success because they got a man open down the field.

Play 4: 2nd & 8, 3:01 remaining in the 2nd quarter, Packers leading 14-6

I've been tracking The Cheese Wheel - a name given to plays featuring Danny Vitale's [45] vertical release up the field from the backfield - for a while now. They use it in a variety of ways. On this play, they're using the threat of The Cheese Wheel as a way to help clear room for a screen underneath. The Packers have run this enough to where defenses are starting to pay attention to it. Sometimes they'll hit Vitale in the flat underneath the defense but today they're using it as a decoy.

The movement from the left side is almost always the same: Vitale starts from I-formation (or offset I-formation) and releases up the field, while the lone outside receiver to that side pushes hard towards the middle of the field. You can see how the defense reacts: two defenders inside fall back with Valdes-Scantling while a linebacker turns to run with Vitale. That all opens a lot of room underneath for Jamaal Williams [30], who releases on a screen.

On this particular play, Ryan Kerrigan [91] shoves David Bakhtiari [69] back into the lap of Rodgers before the screen can fully develop. Rodgers can't throw to Williams because Jonathan Allen [93] is still in the way, so he tries to move a little to get a better angle on the throw. Allen hits Rodgers and the ball falls incomplete

Again, Process over Results. If Bakhtiari can keep Kerrigan off of Rodgers for another half-second, this is likely a big gain. 

Play 5: 4th & 5, 1:05 remaining in the 2nd quarter, Packers leading 14-6

The Packers are in no-man's land, so they opt to go for it on 4th & 5. I love it.

They run a post/dig from the right, with a running back releasing through the middle of the field, running the opposite direction. I've talked about follow concepts before, but let's hit a refresher. The basic idea behind a follow concept like we're seeing from the post/dig combination is that the first route will clear room for the route behind it. They're looking for that initial post to draw a defender out of the middle with it. If it does, they'll have room on the dig. If they don't, they'll have room on the post.

(A quick note: I'm calling the initial route a post even though it ends up looking like a dig. Allion's initial cut appears to be a post, but he ends up leveling off after seeing the coverage. So, even though Allison & Adams end up running to the same space, the route starts as a post, so I'm calling it a post. Just wanted to get that out of the way.)

The problem is the dropping defenders. Washington is showing a lot of potential rushers at the line. At the snap, 4 of them drop back, clogging the initial passing lanes. 

Rodgers is looking to hit the dig, but he sees a couple linebackers in the way. Because of all the dropping linebackers, he knows he can wait for something to get open. Once the linebackers are drawn up by Williams out of the backfield, he knows he'll have space to hit one of the crossers.

There's a single linebacker left in the middle of the field. If he drifts with the first receiver, Rodgers will hit the follow. If he waits on the follow, Rodgers will hit the first receiver.

The linebacker drifts and Rodgers hits Adams on the follow for 9 yards and a 1st down.

Play 6: 1st & 10, 15:00 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Packers leading 14-6

The left side of the offense starts with 2 wide receivers, but Geronimo Allison [81] loops behind Rodgers in the backfield as soon as the ball is snapped. The hard play action - combined with the hard-pushing route from Adams from the left and the motion of Allison - clears a lot of room on the left. After the play action, Jones simply leaks out to that side and behind the attention of the defense. The Packers don't have to do much here and it results in a wide open playmaker in space. Nice work if you can get it.

Play 7: 3rd & 9, 13:36 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Packers leading 17-9

Matt LaFleur mentioned this play at the top of his postgame press conference. In these articles I always try to bring as much context as I can, but without seeing the playbook or being in the huddle, there's not really a way to know with 100% certainty how these plays are supposed to go. Seeing this live - and even rewatching it with the All 22 - it certainly looked like Rodgers missed Jones down the field. In the press conference, LaFleur said that Jones was supposed to go outside on this play, but Landon Collins [20] slipping forced Jones to go inside, instead. You can see Jones trying to cut to the outside, but the fallen Collins cut off his path. Rodgers throws as if Jones is going outside, but the timing is just a little off.

Why did Collins fall? Aaron Jones is running a sluggo. If you're not familiar, "sluggo" means "slant-and-go." Sell the slant, get the defense to bite, then run a go route behind them. If you catch the defense leaning, it can produce some very big plays. Collins bites hard on the slant and slips on the recovery. That little action throws off the timing.

Rodgers has room to climb the pocket and step into the throw, but he saw the inital move from Jones and knew he had Collins beat. The sooner the ball comes out, the more room Jones has to make the catch without Collins being a factor. It's really easy to second-guess when watching a play a dozen times, but I don't know that I can disagree with his thought process in the moment.

Lastly, I want to talk about why Rodgers went to Jones. A lot has been made over the last few weeks about how defenses have adjusted to covering Aaron Jones. The Packers were doing very good things in the passing game when they were getting Jones matched-up on linebackers, but defenses have started using cornerbacks to cover him instead. In this case, Rodgers saw Jones lined up wide against a safety. And, while Collins is perfectly fine, he's not exactly an elite coverage safety. With Jones running a sluggo, Rodgers liked that match-up.

They got Jones matched-up against a safety on the outside, on a route that he ended up winning. Process over Results, man.

Every week, I mark up a bunch of videos and only end up writing about a handful of them in this space. The rest end up getting posted to a thread on Twitter. So, if you're looking for some quick-hitting looks on some other concepts, you can find those here:

I love how this screen is set up. Rodgers looks to the left like he's going to pass downfield. He sets to throw, then quickly pitches back to the right. Turner slips but does enough. Nice set-up and execution. 9 yards on 2nd & 10 pic.twitter.com/WgTTPOlRX4

— Dusty (@DustyEvely) December 10, 2019

I'll be making the trek up to Green Bay for the Packers/Bears game this weekend. If you happen to see me wandering around aimlessly, feel free to say hey!

Albums listened to: Bishop Allen - The Broken String; Angie McMahon - Salt; TOY - Songs of Consumption; Emily Jane White - Immanent Fire; Camila Cabello - Romance; Louise Burns - Portraits