Packers Offensive Line Puts Together a Great Performance vs. Falcons
On Wednesday, the NFL released its current Pro Bowl leaders, as voted by the fans. On defense, four Green Bay Packers were featured in the 60 slots available. That's about double compared to the average NFL team.
Offensively, the numbers are staggering. They currently have 10 potential Pro Bowlers on offense, including multiple contenders at wide receiver, offensive tackle and guard.
In fact, all five members of the Packers' starting offensive line have obtained qualifying votes.
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Some would discredit the Pro Bowl, stating fans aren't exactly the best evaluators of talent in the trenches, but when watching the recent performance against the Atlanta Falcons in a 43-37 win, Green Bay's protection looked the part.
On this play, the Packers ran an interesting concept against the Falcons' quarters coverage. Each safety and boundary corner had one fourth of the field deep as a responsibility, so Green Bay ran some option patterns, leading to deep curls by the X, Y and F targets, while the Z flew down the sideline and the H—tight end Andrew Quarless—cut through the center of the field.
The reason for this is simple. Against Cover 4, another name for quarters, the Packers bunched two targets to their right, the short side of the field. They both ran vertically in what would normally just be the same zone for the boundary corner, so the safety had to pick up the F's route.
On the left of the offensive line, the Aaron Rodgers-led offense also had two routes running vertical, meaning the boundary corner also needed help. The issue for the defense was that there was another green and gold option on the play. The safety had to make a decision to either take the H or Y in the slot vertically. He could not do both.
Out of position, the Falcons tried a stunt with their four-man rush up front. It was up to the Packers offensive line to delay the pressure until the Falcons' secondary had made a decision, which Rodgers could then exploit.
Rodgers was able to get a clean drop, gathering himself with no pressure around. The stunts weren't executed quick enough to get initial pressure, but the Packers had proven they could stop the Atlanta edge players throughout the game.
Left tackle David Bakhtiari was able to stall a defensive lineman attempting to crush the pocket. With nice knee bend and hand placement, the leverage of the Falcon was negated.
On the right, tackle Bryan Bulaga had a nice, wide base when shutting down his white jersey.
This was the view from upstairs of the play at that moment. As you could see, on the left sideline, the cornerback locked up with receiver Jordy Nelson, and on the right sideline, the two defensive backs were matched, too.
The trick was the linebackers passing off coverage to the safety. At about the 20-yard line, the underneath coverage freed themselves from their targets, giving the high players man-to-man roles.
Unfortunately, since the rush couldn't get home, a safety was left with two targets. He decided to stay on top of both, electing to give up easy yardage, but not a touchdown. This gave Quarless the space he needed to work with.
Had the safety decided to pursue Quarless, for example, then the slot receiver next to him could have bolted on a post option and been off to the races.
With a still clean pocket, Rodgers just needed to calibrate the pass correctly to gash the defense.
And that he did, resulting in a huge gain.
In the red zone, the Packers offensive line again came through. With a fade to the left, two interior curls and a slant, the offense was in a good situation, should Atlanta have run man-to-man coverage, as it appeared pre-snap.
Eddie Lacy, the running back on the play, had a read. If there was someone free blitzing, he was to pick him up. If no one came, he was to run a route.
After taking the snap, Rodgers looked to his right. The inside players on the offensive line, Josh Sitton, Corey Linsley and T.J. Lang, had already made contact. Lang was actually hanging with a double-team, but only until his guy got to the line of scrimmage. On the outside, the tackles were waiting for their men.
Lacy, noticing only five men coming to pressure his quarterback, made his way to the vacant space in the left A-gap.
Rodgers moved his eyes to the left of the field, unsatisfied with the slant he had as his first read. His offensive line was giving him time to work, and the pocket was still intact.
Eventually, in a jittery pass likely due to his internal clock letting him know he had held onto the ball for enough time, he found the checkdown option to the tailback for a touchdown.
Rodgers, though, didn't have to release that second. He had all day on the rep.
The Falcons would later give a look for another five-on-five matchup. After motioning his back to the slot, the Atlanta front left him to roam and kept five men relatively near the line of scrimmage.
Picking up and diagnosing the front, the Packers felt as though they only had three responsibilities, as a linebacker banked in coverage and another defender seemed to be "spying" Rodgers.
There was a bit of a lack of awareness here, but the blocks were on point. Clearly, the defensive end didn't pose a threat as a pass-rusher early in the down, so the center and right guard worked away from him, toward double-teams.
The would-be pressure man recognized his opportunity with a lane straight to the quarterback in front of him.
Dodging a sack, Rodgers moved in an otherwise clean pocket to find his receiver.
That's when he found Nelson, just asking for a touchdown. Rodgers answered.
This play was the killer for the Falcons. A dagger in the heart of a team which otherwise had been able to keep the top on the explosive Green Bay offense—this play essentially ended the night.
Playing a rolling Cover 2 defense, Atlanta only had to cover two routes, an in and a corner post, on the play.
When Rodgers came off action, his line was flat, as they mimicked a stretch run play. At this point, there were seven potential rushers against eight potential blockers. With a margin of error of two, the Falcons had a shot to get to the former MVP if they all came and the Green Bay line flashed a weakness.
By the time he finished his drop, though, only four black helmets were trying to get after him. Rodgers had a huge pocket and some space to work with. Sitton, the left guard, even sent a man flying in pass protection.
Downfield, the high defensive back needed to make a decision on Nelson. Nelson crashed in on what seemed to be a very deep corner route. Instead of staying balanced and giving up yardage underneath, he crashed in with Nelson, attempting to make a play on the ball for no gain.
Rodgers, meanwhile, was looking off the other safety, hoping Nelson could work his way off the double move quick enough to blast the defense down the middle of the field on a post.
Ready to throw the ball, Rodgers still had a clean pocket, outside of one emerging penetrator.
At the point of release, that penetrator had been cleaned up, and Rodgers didn't have to worry about post-pass contact.
With interior leverage on an interior breaking route, Nelson had all sorts of space to eat if the MVP candidate put the ball on the money. When he did, the Falcons ate a 70-yard bomb and six points for their inability to get Rodgers on the ground.
Overall, the Packers' line performance looked good on film. On paper, it helped front a team which had 327 yards through the air and featured two 70-plus-yard runners on the night against the Falcons.
Poised for a playoff run, the Green Bay uglies picked the perfect time to peak and mesh. Since Bulaga has returned from injury, the squad has smoothed over in pass protection, and as of recently, Lacy has been doing well.
Their next game will be against the Buffalo Bills, who have one of the best pass-rushing fronts in the NFL, if not the best. Earning positive grades on the road against a playoff contender would be a big vote of confidence for the green and gold.
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