Ahhhhhhhhh the Pony Package. It was not that long ago that Pony Package was the talk of the town: the new wrinkle in the offense that would allow two of your best skill position players - Aaron Jones & AJ Dillon - on the field at the same time. There was so much hope and that hope died a quick, violent death.
(For the uninitiated, “Pony Package” is the personnel package that has two running backs on the field at the same time. That’s typically 21 personnel, with a splash of 22 personnel.)
Which is not to say that all Pony is bad. Some Pony can be good! This past offseason, I spent time looking across the rest of the league to see what worked out of Pony, then building out a series of plays that can work off each other. It was a two part series, the first part dealing with Lead Flare and the second part dealing with Orbits and Vertical releases.
What we’ve learned is that there are ways to build out a creative and powerful Pony package, but it has to be a relatively small part of your offense. That seems like a lesson the Packers have learned. After severely dialing back after the early point of last year, it seems like they’re looking for their spots. This past week was the best week they’ve had out of Pony this year: they ran 6 plays out of Pony, averaging 8.5 YPA. Their 4 passes gained 9.3 YPA and their 2 runs gained 7.0 YPA.
Of those 6 plays, 2 of them were RPOs, both with a swing screen tag. They ran once (12 yards) and passed once (2 YPA).
Every single play out of Pony gained yards: a minimum of 2 yards (twice) and a max of 20 yards and a glorious, glorious TD.
Overall, a solid showing out of the Pony Package this year. Please, let’s keep this rolling.