With Davante Adams out the door, there has been a lot of talk about the Pony Package being used in the Packers offense. It’s something many people - myself included - have talked about quite a bit over the past couple of years, and even moreso in the lead-up to this season. Why, this is the second time I’ve talked about it this week.
While it has been a hot topic of conversation, it’s not something that I’ve really talked about in terms of the mechanics of it.
So what is Pony Package?
Pony Package is an offensive personnel grouping that involves 2 RBs on the field at the same time (21 or 22 personnel, generally). It’s a package the Packers have tended to lean on fairly heavily in games without Davante Adams.
In 2019, they used Pony on 15% of their offensive snaps. In 2020, they used it on 16% of their offensive snaps. In 2021? A scant 2% of their snaps were in Pony personnel.
With Adams gone, I anticipate an uptick in usage of the Pony Package. With the combo of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, they have two RBs who are capable of running between the tackles or running downfield routes.
Aaron Rodgers has spoken of this as well, in case you want to trust the word of a man who will be throwing the ball instead of a dude at a desk. In an article for SI, Bill Huber wrote about Rodgers comments on the matter. When talking about what they had been practicing with the Pony package, Rodgers remarked,
We have runs to both of them, we have swing passes to both of them, we have screens, we have down-the-field stuff, we have action stuff, we have scat protection, we have six-man, seven-man protection stuff…We’ve got to get our best 11 on the field and it seems like those two are both in the best 11.
You don’t even have to read between the lines; he lays it all out. With Jones and Dillon the field, the Packers have a varied attack in all facets of their offensive attack.
So…how does the Pony Package work? What are the advantages? In short, you’re hunting for mismatches. There’s more to it, but the base idea is to get your RB matched up on a LB in the passing game or drag a DB into the box and make him be part of the run fit, giving yourself a favorable run look.
I took to the digital chalkboard and spent a few minutes walking through the overall idea, so you can watch that if you’re so inclined.