You could see the light shining on Packers QB Jordan Love and the young Packers core.
Around Thanksgiving, Love went 22-of-32 for 268 yards and three touchdowns as the Packers went into Ford Field and defeated the Detroit Lions 29-22. His arm talent and angles were on full display, making him the Packers' promising QB in the 2020 draft.
Let's just say that the Packers' signal caller has been very good since that game on Thanksgiving. Among all QBs after Week 12, Love ranks third in the NFL in adjusted EPA per play and third in completion percentage, and he showed off his full potential in the Packers' 48-32 upset of the Dallas Cowboys. did. What stood out most about Love and the Packers' offense's performance in Dallas was how often they had an answer to anything Dallas threw at them. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur created an incredible game plan that used misdirection and motion to punish Dallas for playing light box in the run game, then using play-action to nullify the pass rush. I had it.
The Cowboys had a great defense this year, but their linebacker group was a clear weakness. They played light up front and because of that the Packers crushed them in the run game. This was one of Aaron Jones' first big runs and started a trend for the Packers. Green Bay used Love's boot action to stifle the backside linebacker and slow the linebacker to the cutback lane. Jones finds it first and gets a positive gain.
This play appeared on Dallas' defensive tape against the Buffalo Bills and shows how the Cowboys responded to orbital movement. You can also bump defenders in and out of the box and move players around in motion. It can be a mantel or a zonel, but how you play it will determine how it fits into the run. On this play, Green Bay runs an orbital motion and Dallas bumps a player into the box. However, once the receiver returns to its starting position, it must bump back out of the box. In this case, it is LB Marquez Bell who moves in and out of the box. If he leaves, the only defenders in the second row of the box will be S Jaylon Kearse and CB Stephon Gilmore.
Please tell me who will win.
In the passing game, LaFleur utilized Love's aggressiveness and arm talent to help plan passes from play-action and attack downfield. Dallas is an aggressive team, and LaFleur helped turn that aggression against them.
Dallas loves running the Tampa 2 on defense with one of their DBs as a middle runner. Green Bay knew that, attacking the middle of the field with a dagger concept throughout the game. They also tagged play-action to it to slow down the Cowboys' most frightening part: the pass rush. This gave Love a clean pocket and made it easier to generate explosives since the Packers had all the answers for Dallas' Tampa 2.
LaFleur and the Packers made everything look similar to Dallas' second level and helped create some explosives where the Packers' receivers run wide open. Look at these two plays. The first one is simple. Green Bay orders TE Luke Musgrave back to the line of scrimmage, the Packers run a split zone, and TE Tucker Craft advances to the other side. Dallas got caught in a split-zone move and Jones took off for a huge 27-yard gain.
On the very next play, Green Bay runs the same move with the same look and same personnel. Only this time, the Packers will run Leake with Musgrave and see how that run action moves all of their second-level defenders. LaFleur and the Packers' offense are brilliant.
This doesn't mean Jordan Love didn't call the iso and get a bucket when he needed it. This might be one of my favorite plays of the wild card round in terms of the process and subsequent execution. The Packers are empty and Love does a dummy count to see what Dallas is doing. Love adjusts the play at the line of scrimmage as Dallas blitzes. He moved WR Jaden Reed and the ball was snapped. In fact, Dallas brought the blitz, but Love was undaunted. Love launched a pass off his back foot to waiting WR Dontaevion Wicks for a TD. Truly a masterpiece.
The growth that Love and this young Packers core have shown this season has been incredible to watch. The NFL's youngest team showed some bite because of the trust LaFleur showed in Love and the young players who struggled to put up 48 points in Dallas. Now they head to San Francisco to fight the Niners' Death Machine. It's definitely not a pushover game considering Green Bay is playing with confidence right now.
