Four wins in a row! Count ‘em: 4! After looking like their season was dead at 4-8, the Packers now sit at 8-8 with a win-and-they’re-in game on Sunday night. Just like we all predicted, I’m sure.
But this is not the place for that. In this space, we’re talking about the RPO game then looking back on some stuff I put out into the world this week (for good or ill). So let’s get to the RPO game. How did they do?
Not great! As I talked about over at CHTV this week, the Packers only had 1 throw behind the line of scrimmage this week, which is extremely rare for them. (Rodgers currently leads the league in percentage of attempts behind the LOS, with 21% of his passes on the year targeting that area, per PFF.)
I had a couple big takeways from the current RPO game after going through this.
For starters, their usage is down. They had been using RPOs as ~35% of their run game. They have been averaging more yards per carry without an RPO tag over the past couple of weeks. So is this 22.6% RPO rate a one-game blip or the signal of a changing approach? That’s certainly something I’ll be keeping an eye on going forward.
The other thing I’ll be keeping an eye on is the usage of RPO tags with the Wide Zone rush look. It was their most effective RPO pairing this week (albeit in an absurdly low sample size). On the season, it has been their third-best run look to pair with an RPO, averaging 4.6 YPA on 61 plays. The two better run blocking schemes have been Counter (7.7 YPA on 10 plays) and Power (5.2 YPA on 39 plays), but the Packers have gone away from those in the running game since the bye week.
In the last couple of weeks, they like to pair a Slant RPO tag on the Wide Zone look, and they’ve found success there. As they go back to more of the Wide Zone team they had primarily been under LaFleur, do we see the effectiveness of that go up a bit in their RPO game?
Some really intriguing things to think about as this team goes into Week 18. And, hopefully, to the playoffs.
What else did I work on this week?
For Packer Report, I wrote about the Packers play action boot concept. It’s been a staple in their offense since LaFleur came on board, but defenses have found ways to take away the effectiveness of it. I dove into a play from Packers/Vikings to show how the Packers are keeping the concept but building in answers to the problems defenses have been causing for them. It’s been a really cool thing to watch develop this year.
For Cheesehead TV, I wrote about the Packers passing game against the Vikings, then dug into a couple 3rd down plays that went to Allen Lazard. Same personnel, same formation, different plays. Always fun to look at that stuff.
Over on YouTube, I walked through a few plays. I started with a nice gain off a secondary reaction route that involved Za’Darius Smith abandoning hit post because of the promise of getting a hit on Rodgers.
Next up, I took a look at yet another TD coming from 14 personnel. After going 3+ years without it, LaFleur has now used 14 personnel 4 times in the last 2 games, with each use ending with a TD. Not terrible!
For the second week in a row, I dipped my toes into the Special Teams waters, this time talking about a kickoff return TD. Is that right? I didn’t think the Packers were allowed to do that.
I also dove into a really cool run concept from the Packers. I mentioned above that they’ve gone away from some of their Power stuff this year, but they’re still getting the same effect by pairing Wide Zone with motion blocking from their tight ends. It has been a blast to watch.
Lastly, I dove into Rudy Ford robbing the post to pick up an INT. Nice, heady play from Ford.
I also did a thread on Twitter about Romeo Doubs’ dancing prowess in the Victory Formation. The great Kassidy Hill showed it to Doubs, and his reaction is my favorite thing of the week.
It was, as always, a busy week. But also a really fun one. Big up to anyone who read/listened/watched any of this. I don’t know why you do it, but I appreciate it.