Breaking Down Green Bay's Chunk Plays Against the Philadelphia Eagles
Currently, the Green Bay Packers rank seventh in the league in completions of more than 20 yards and second in completions of more than 40 yards. On the stat sheet, the deep ball seems like the backbone of the Packers offense.
Against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, in a 55-20 victorious effort, Green Bay flexed its ability to complete several balls for big gains. The trendy term for large gains seem to be "chunk plays," as people are using the phrasing more often each day.
Specifically, the Packers' three passing plays of more than 25 yards were important in their latest win.
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First quarter, 13:52 on the clock
Offensive personnel: 11 (one running back, one tight end)
Defensive personnel: Base 3-4
On this play, Green Bay had two vertical routes going down the sideline. The first was the streak that the Z receiver, Jordy Nelson, would run on the right, as the boundary cornerback pinned him into a limited area from the jump of the snap. The other would be a wheel route by Eddie Lacy, the running back who motioned out of the backfield on the rep.
The X receiver, Davante Adams, ran a quick crossing route near the line of scrimmage. In all likelihood, he was the last read on the play. The H target, also known as a tight end, ran a combo hi-lo pattern with the Y receiver, Randall Cobb, in an attempt to beat a zone coverage if Rodgers couldn't go deep with the ball.
In coverage, across the board, Philadelphia played man-on-man. The high safety in the center of the field attempted to put a cap on the offense, but anything underneath was available if the Packers executed.
The reason the Eagles did this was because they believed they had a stunt which could beat the Packers offensive line. The nose tackle on this play would loop out, while the left defensive end crashed in. Philadelphia assumed, with a five-on-five matchup in pass protection, that Green Bay didn't have the communication or protection call to prevent them from creating a pressure before Rodgers was able to check down in the short game.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, center Corey Linsley and right guard T.J. Lang were able to pick up the stunt, giving Rodgers plenty of time to throw.
In the end, he didn't even need to move off his first read. Nelson, streaking down the sideline with a clean release, was free. The high safety, positioned to stop a deep play, didn't move off his center-fielding spot quick enough to appear to be able to close in on the receiver in time to disrupt the catch.
Nelson made the catch, and he was eventually brought down for a 64-yard gain.
Second quarter, 10:45 on the clock
Offensive personnel: 12 (one running back, two tight ends)
Defensive personnel: Base 3-4
Green Bay again used two vertical routes down the sideline on this play. Both the X receiver, Cobb, and the Z receiver, Nelson, ran streaks with outside releases, as the corners on the boundary once more funneled them outside, making Rodgers' margin of error on deep routes small.
Both tight ends, Andrew Quarless and rookie Richard Rodgers, ran seven-yard curls at the 20-yard line.
Lacy first motioned from lining up on the right side of the quarterback to the left, where he then ran into space after not seeing a blocking assignment.
Instead of running Cover 1 again, with only one man playing deep, the Eagles decided to run Cover 3, putting three men to cap the offense, also keeping stress off the safety in the middle of the field. Philadelphia sent four men after Rodgers, while four others dropped into short zone coverage.
Because only four men were sent, Lacy was free to run his route.
Picking up the pass rush well, the offensive line gave the quarterback enough time to get a nice ball out. Again, Rodgers picked Nelson, who was running down the right sideline in space. Cobb, on the left, did as well against his man as Nelson did, but Nelson was on the far side of the field, with more room to make a catch based on position of the ball on the left hash.
The center-field safety again wasn't off his hash fast enough, as he couldn't break to Nelson in time to be a factor in the catch.
Nelson came down with the catch again, this time for a 27-yard score.
Fourth quarter, 14:52 on the clock
Offensive personnel: 11
Defensive personnel: Nickel
For this rep, Green Bay again had Adams, the X receiver, run an outside route vertically. Cobb, the Y, had a short curl at the 30-yard line. Nelson, the Z receiver, ran a seven-yard out route.
The H, Quarless, stayed in pass protection, while Lacy had a check-with-me route in space, just as with the second highlighted play.
Philadelphia did a better job at disguising its coverage on this play. With only one safety deep, a quarterback would assume they were in Cover 1 or Cover 3, but the Eagles were actually in Cover 2 Man. The two cornerbacks at the bottom of the screen would take their men one-on-one, while the slot corner at the top of the screen took Adams.
The boundary cornerback on the left took the deep left side of the field, as the high safety took the top right portion.
Philadelphia's issue was that they tried to keep a top on the defense with only one player, who had to play sideline-to-sideline deep on the previous two allowed "chunk" plays. With two men each covering half the field, the margin of error for the back end of the defense was no longer so small.
The pass rush on this play was important. Philadelphia would stunt the left side of the blitz, but the off-the-ball linebacker had a "green dog" read. Essentially, if he saw a running back leave the backfield, it was his responsibility in man coverage, as everyone else was in man, but if the running back stayed, he was allowed to blitz.
Lacy, the running back, had a similar responsibility. If the linebacker came, that was his man in pass protection, but if he stayed, he was free to run to space, instead of wasting an eligible pass-catching body on the play. It all came down to who would be the first to bite, and if they could get home.
Rodgers wasn't as lucky as on his previous plays: His first reads weren't open on the right side of the field.
Double-teamed, his third read, Adams, was also covered. Philadelphia had done its job well in covering the Packers' three wideout targets.
The issue in Philadelphia's ways was not being able to get at Rodgers. The offensive line picked up the stunt, and while their linebacker crashed down to blitz, he ran into the teeth of the line, who had stonewalled all three defenders trying to create interior pressure.
Lacy, making the right call, as the linebacker only came on a blitz after a significant delay, left the backfield for open space.
He found it, and Rodgers found him, as Lacy made a catch with no one near him.
After barreling through a couple would-be-tacklers, Lacy kept moving.
He then broke several more tackles on the way to a 32-yard touchdown.
Final thoughts
Green Bay's high-flying offense put Philadelphia's secondary to the test on Sunday. Beating Cover 1, Cover 3 and Cover 2 Man, the Packers scorched the Eagles on three different occasions for passes which went more than 25 yards.
Aaron Rodgers, a potential MVP candidate, could continue to build his resume if Green Bay keeps putting up numbers, as they have in the first half of the season.
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