I’ve gone missing from this space for the past couple weeks, and for that I apologize. During that time, not a single person asked me where The RPO Report went, or asked when it was coming back or anything. I think that means everyone loves it and that I should absolutely continue to do it.
Let’s look at how the RPO game did against the Panthers:
Only 2 throws off RPOs and neither of them did well. The running game showed out well, though. A 5.2 YPA is nothing to sneeze at.
The total number of RPOs (16) is tied for the second-highest RPO usage of the season, just behind the 17 RPOs called in Week 15.
We still haven’t seen the influx of vertical RPOs that I was hoping to see this year - I only have a single instance of the Glance tag all year - but they have been leaning pretty heavy on the Hank (hook/slant) tag this season, often throwing to the hitch when they throw it on that concept. I’m choosing so see that as a transition point to a more vertical-based RPO game next year. Please let me lie to myself.
It was a pretty run-heavy gameplan for the Packers this year, and the RPOs were a big part of that. As you can see above, runs using an RPO tag gained an average of 1.1 more yards per carry than runs that didn’t use an RPO tag.
Overall, a good week for the Packers RPO game (when handing the ball off, anyway).
What else did I get into this week? Not much.
As always, I got a chance to sit down and break down some plays with John Kuhn. This week we talked about what Aaron Jones brings to the offense, then hyped up some downfield blocking from the receivers. I may-or-may-not have looked for every opportunity to talk about Tucker Kraft.
Over at Cheesehead TV, I looked at the Packers passing game against the Panthers, then dug into a couple 3rd down plays. A big conversion to Tucker Kraft and the huge pass to Romeo Doubs late in the 4th quarter.
Between the holidays and some family stuff, I didn’t get to do nearly as much as I wanted to, but I’m happy with what I ended up doing. I think that’s good.