Breaking Down Eddie Lacy's Explosive Rushes Through 5 Games
Four games into the season, Eddie Lacy, last season's Rookie of the Year, was having one of the most disappointing, if not the most disappointing, sophomore season relative to expectations. In Week 5, Lacy threw the critics to the side, rushing for 105 yards on 13 carries. His fifth 100-yard game, and first in 2014, toppled his previous season high by 57 yards.
While inconsistent in the run game, Lacy has been able to break off a handful of "chunk plays," which seems to be the new buzzword in football. Also known as explosive plays, most definitions list the term as any play that goes for 15 yards or more.
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Against Seattle, New York and Detroit to start the season, Lacy didn't have much time to acquire touches, as Green Bay was either behind or within a possession for most of the matches. In back-to-back blowouts against Chicago and Minnesota, he's averaged 17 touches in the air and on the ground. Said average is more than any touch tally from his first three games.
With Green Bay in all likelihood to be favored in at least 10 of their next 11 games to finish the season, it's expected that Lacy's touch-counter matches much closer to the past two week's average than during his first three weeks. With more opportunities, Lacy should be able to rip off more explosive plays, which should make his fantasy owners happy.
Play 1:
Green Bay ran a simple zone-blocking play here. On the back side, left tackle David Bakhtiari sealed off the back-side defensive end, preventing him from making a play and also opening a potential cutback lane for Lacy. Each of the pair of guards works on a double-team, due to the future double-teamed defender being in the play-side gap to them, which is typically the first step of the criteria to assign blockees in a zone play.
From those double-teams, one blocker worked to the second level after the initial block was established. Based on how the defenders reacted to being double-teamed, left guard Josh Sitton and right tackle Bryan Bulaga made the move to the second level. Rookie tight end Richard Rodgers had a solo block at the end of the line to the right.
Based on how the defense lined up, in a 4-3 under, the read Lacy would make a majority of the time would have ended up with him in either the A-gap (off the right of the center) or the C-gap (off the right of the right tackle), as there was a free defender (highlighted in red) coming off the right edge.
In this situation, if all the linemen got on their blocks and sustained them for a reasonable amount of time, it would force the high safety (highlighted in red) to make a play on Lacy.
Here is what the play looked like at the handoff. The double-teams are developing, as you can see Sitton and Bulaga looking at their next targets at the second level. The issue is that the holes are being crushed, much smaller than expected. A positive, though, is that every defender has a solidified hat on his body at this point, as all the blockers are engaged.
With the free rusher crashing in a bit too much, Lacy sees the open field after some contact in a muddy hole. Bouncing outside, Lacy hits what is effectively the play-side C-gap, one of the two spots where the play looked like it could have gone for a big gain based on the pre-snap alignment.
The safety had to make a play, and he did, but it was not until after a 15-yard gain.
Play 2:
This is another zone play. Instead of sealing the back-side edge player like the previous play, though, the Packers chose to use Bakhtiari on a play-side double-team as there was a defender in his play-side gap.
One reason why this happened was because the Packers only have five offensive linemen blocking on this play, with tight end Andrew Quarless split off the offensive line. This works for the Packers, though, as Detroit is in a nickel defense with only six box defenders, giving them the numbers they want to run the ball.
What's interesting here is that DeAndre Levy, No. 54 for Detroit, dropped into the flat, avoiding run responsibilities. What this means is that instead of working off that double-team with Sitton, Bakhtiari is going to be able to stay and drive on his man.
While this is technically a zone play, where the running back should make a live read on the defense during the play, Detroit was begging to get the ball ran down the left A-gap, between two double-teams.
After overshooting the hole, Lacy bounced off the back of rookie center Corey Linsley, ending up in the correct gap after it was all said and done. Scampering to daylight, Lacy picked up a 17-yard gain on the 2nd-and-1 play.
As you can see, Levy is still bailing on run responsibilities as Lacy hits the hole. It may have worked on this play due to the defense's mistakes, but Lacy needs to be able to hit his target-marker quicker and smoother. He can count on getting big plays post-teammate contact.
Play 3:
This play was a stretch zone for the Packers. On these plays, blockers' assignments become more muddied, as they drop-step and move in unison toward the right sideline trying to find bodies on the way during their pursuit. This is also known as an outside-zone play.
These plays are good for running backs who are able to read a cutback lane well, as the entire defense typically follows the offensive line and running back, sprinting to the sideline. On this play, that's exactly what happened.
By the time Lacy ran out of options to the right of him, every offensive lineman was engaged on a Vikings defender. On top of that, the one player who could have made a play on the back, while changing direction, didn't.
To the right of Lang, the defender (highlighted) sprinted, trying to close in on Lacy, who was on the other side of the offensive lineman. A blown fill read is all it took for Lacy to change direction cleanly and hit wide-open space.
With Sitton sealing the back side of the play with a slicing block on a Viking defensive lineman, Lacy had green grass for him to run over, and he surely did. The play resulted in an 18-yard gain.
Play 4:
Minnesota risked it all on this play, and it paid for it. With linebackers creeping up, the Packers put on a zone-blocking display that landed a man on all of the box defenders, except the safety, looking to make a play on the back side.
If Green Bay could get their men on the Vikings quickly, Lacy could burst into the second level with a head of steam almost instantly. This is what occurs when a no-huddle offense gets in rhythm. The defense has to play straight-up on an offense. The previous play was the 18-yard gain diagrammed before this run.
Green Bay put on a clinic on the carry, engaging and winning at the line of scrimmage with every blocker by the time quarterback Aaron Rodgers let the ball out of his hands. Lacy took the play for 29 yards after taking out a defensive back in the open field.
Final Thoughts
Despite early-season struggles, running back Eddie Lacy has seen success in the first five games of the season. For Green Bay to efficiently increase those explosive plays, though, he must make clean, quick reads like he did against the Minnesota Vikings. Green Bay's ripping off the long runs on inside- and outside-zone plays, making Lacy's vision the spark to create explosive plays, is necessary.
With his carries likely to increase down the stretch, Lacy is starting to hit his stride. To close out games, the Packers will need him to shoulder the load late in games. Able to do that, evidenced by his accolades in 2013, head coach Mike McCarthy, on Thursday, said, "I thought [Lacy] was a beast in the open field," per Paul Imig of Fox Sports Wisconsin (via Chris Wesseling of NFL.com)
The confidence in the ground game is back in Green Bay. With Rodgers also hitting on all cylinders in the air, the Packers offense could cause a lot of trouble for defenses as the season continues.
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