Wherever you find a team based in the wide zone rushing system, you will find PA Boot. The reason is simple: they both look exactly the same, right up until the moment they don’t.
On a wide zone run, the quarterback starts under center. At the snap, he turns and runs to meet the running back, his arm fully extended. He’ll hand the ball to the running back, who aims for the backside of the playside tackle (I’ve heard coaches teaching to “aim for the tackle’s buttcrack”, but I don’t know that we need to get quite that specific here. Although I guess we just did). The offensive line will zone block laterally, looking to create holes for the running back to run through, looking to climb to the second level once the initial block is sealed. The running back will flow with the play, looking for a hole or a cutback lane.
Teams that run wide zone - like the Packers - show this look a lot, and defenses can easily key on this movement, moving resources to the playside to load up against the run. Of course, one of the things that hold them back from doing this is the PA Boot.
PA Boot has all the hallmarks: under center, arm outstretched, offensive line blocking laterally, etc. The defense sees the movement and gets rolling to stop it, only to have the quarterback take the ball away from the running back and bootleg out the other direction, where he will have 2-4 receivers running parallel to him on different planes of the field.
It’s a simple variation, but it can be highly effective, mainly because that wide zone tendency has been run again and again and again and again and…well, you get the idea.
One of the ways defenses have started to counter the PA Boot is to just keep the backside defender home on the edge. Pursuing the play down the line can help with run defense - particularly against cutback lanes - but it also leaves the boot edge wide open for the quarterback. By staying home the defense is committing one fewer defender to the run game, but protecting against this staple of the pass game.
Over the first 4 weeks of the season, the Packers haven’t run PA Boot nearly as much as they had last year, and this shift in how defenses play it has been a big part of that. They stepped up their usage of it against the Bengals, and also showed off a couple nice wrinkles that I expect we’ll see more of going forward. Against the Bengals, the Packers run PA Boot - or a variation of it - on 5 occasions. On those 5 plays, Aaron Rodgers was 3/5 for 62 yards (12.4 YPA). I wanted to take a run through all of those to show the different ways they’re running it.
First off, we’ll take a look at the standard PA Boot, run how we expect. This was the second instance of them running it.
This is a split-zone look, with Robert Tonyan crossing under the line and releasing to the opposite flat. When running split-zone run, that player will stop before exiting the line and seal the backside.
Again, this is the typical way teams want to run it. Fake the run, boot out the other side and find 3 receivers: shallow, middle and deep. All three receivers are in the quarterback’s line of sight, so it’s a relatively easy read. Find the guy who is most open - or has the best leverage - and throw that.
On this play, Marcedes Lewis is open as the middle option. Aaron Rodgers helps to open a throwing lane by looking slightly to the middle of the field. That helps make sure #57 doesn’t fall under the route from Lewis. Once that lane is clear, Rodgers fires it to Lewis for a gain of 14.
The one minor tweak on this play is the release from Allen Lazard as the jet motion man. Typically the Packers will have the jet motion man camp out in the flat after completing his motion, helping to hold a defender or two to the backside. I’m still waiting for the Packers to break out Y Leak off of this concept. Until that happens, I’ll just be thinking of what they can do with the backside wheel.
Same basic idea here. Fake the run, boot out the other way and find three receivers. Once again, Rodgers hits the middle option (Davante Adams this time). Adams catches it in-stride and goes for 24 yards.
It’s fairly rare to see that middle option be the target, but it worked on a couple occasions for the Packers.
Same thing here, but Rodgers can’t find anyone open and throws it away. You can see #94 hedging on the edge; pinching laterally down the line but looking to stay with Rodgers on the boot. Josiah Deguara takes him out with a block, but it gives an initial look at how teams are looking to stop this, and one of the ways offenses can counter it. It removes a flat option, but it buys the quarterback time. It’s a trade-off.
We’ve seen the standard looks. Now we’ll look at a couple ways the Packers were countering those looks.
The half-boot is a nice way to change things up, and a way for the offense to go big-play hunting. The initial bootleg motion can trigger the defense to fall into their coverage on the PA Boot concept. That allows the offense to work counters off of that. Is the defense fading with the boot? Counter that by having the receivers reverse field.
I just went over this last week by looking at a Tonyan TD against the Bears, so we don’t need to go back through it right now.
Here’s an example of a half-boot concept from last week:
You can see how that initial boot action from Rodgers triggers the defensive reaction. They’re playing up on the run, and as soon as they realize the fake and see a step on the boot, they fade under the typical boot routes. The Packers counter that by having Lazard and Adams reverse field. The half-boot allows Rodgers to set up and load on a deep shot.
Neither of those guys get open, but the left side of the field is completely cleared out, so Rodgers throws it to a wide open AJ Dillon, who rumbles for 24 yards.
Lastly, we have the typical PA Boot that closely resembles the first play, with a couple differences.
The jet motion motion turns into a wheel route again, but this time it’s to the playside. We also have Adams breaking off his normal route to attack the middle of the field.
With the playside end staying home, Rodgers doesn’t have time to do anything and ends up just throwing it away. But a half-boot concept with an option to hit Adams to the opposite side of the field or the jet man on a wheel is a very intriguing idea. Very intriguing, indeed.
Overall, this was a promising week for one of the core concepts in this offense. Picked up some nice yardage and flashed some ideas we’ll likely see more of in the coming week. If they keep up with these half-boot concepts, teams won’t be able to fade under the PA Boot quite as much as we’ve been seeing, which opens up the core concept a little more. Round and round we go.