Greg Cosell’s Look Ahead: The Packers new-look running offense
Over the last four or five weeks, the Green Bay Packers’ passing game has been uneven and inconsistent. Coach Mike McCarthy took over the play-calling last week, and I think he was looking for a way to stabilize his offense. So he turned to the run game.
The Packers’ offense looked a lot different last week against the Dallas Cowboys. They called 39 running plays. It was raining, but I don’t think McCarthy woke up Sunday, saw some rain outside his window and decided to run almost 40 times. I think he decided to change the offensive approach on the Monday before the game. This wasn’t done on a whim.
McCarthy is a tough Pittsburgh guy, and while he has coached to his team’s strengths with Aaron Rodgers, he’s not really a spread offense type of coach. He likes to run the ball. And they did it a lot against the Cowboys.
[Yahoo Daily Fantasy: $10 could win you $30K in our $300K contest for Week 15]
The Packers have two good backs, in Eddie Lacy and James Starks. Lacy is running much better the past few weeks. He has run hard. And on an 18-yard run early in the game against Dallas, he had a nice move in the open field to make safety J.J. Wilcox miss.
Starks has run well too. On a 30-yard touchdown, the Packers lined up tight end Richard Rodgers in the backfield. It was a delay draw with Rodgers leading Starks, and the Packers offensive line did an excellent job sorting out the Cowboys’ front movement — they had a slot blitz and a tackle/end stunt to that side. Starks did a great job setting up his center J.C. Tretter’s block on inside linebacker Rolando McClain.
The Packers had a limited passing game with almost no intermediate or vertical dimension. That could be a function of the rainy weather, though the Packers haven’t featured a deep passing game much this season. What they do have is a tremendous screen passing game, which also features the running backs. Starks’ first touchdown was a beautifully designed play.
The Packers lined up Randall Cobb in the backfield, with Starks offset to the other side a little deeper than Rodgers. There was a run fake left to Cobb, Davante Adams and James Jones ran shallow crossing routes to take their man-to-man defenders with them. That created traffic and prevented linebacker Sean Lee from getting across the formation to cover Starks, which was his assignment. The Packers anticipated man coverage on third-and-4, got it, and had a great wrinkle off a basic screen concept to spring a touchdown.
What will we see from the Packers this week against the Oakland Raiders, and the rest of the season? It’s hard to say, but last week was a different look with McCarthy calling plays for the first time this season. Green Bay ran the ball 60 percent of their first-down plays, after running on first down only 41 percent of the time before last week. Fullback John Kuhn played 45 snaps, as “20” formation (two running backs, no tight end) was the most utilized personnel package against Dallas. The Packers figured the Cowboys wouldn’t score a ton of points so they could play a certain way, knowing they wouldn’t need 30 points to win. McCarthy might not feel like the Packers can run as much against more explosive offenses like the Raiders or the Arizona Cardinals, next week’s opponent. But it was a successful approach last week.
Odell Beckham vs. Josh Norman, maybe
Before we get to this week’s matchup between New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham and Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman, I wanted to take a look at Beckham’s 84-yard touchdown last week against the Miami Dolphins. He was wide open, but that happened because the Giants called a great play.
Beckham and tight end Will Tye showed a staple slant-flat look early in the play, and the Dolphins ran a “quarters” zone to that side. Dolphins safety Reshad Jones is a very “nosy” safety, and he attacked what he read as a slant by Beckham. The Giants answered with Beckham running a sluggo — a slant-and-go route — to beat Jones’ aggression. Corner Jamar Taylor stayed in his quarter and did not follow Beckham inside, so he was not in position to react to the sluggo route. It was a great design by the Giants off their staple slant-flat concept, and called at the perfect time.
A lot is being made of the Norman-Beckham matchup, and Norman will align on Beckham at times. But the Panthers are still predominantly a zone defensive team. Norman did travel with Julio Jones last week when Jones was aligned on the outside and at times in the slot, but it was not always man-to-man coverage when Jones was split outside.
Also, Norman didn’t match up with New Orleans Saints receiver Brandin Cooks a couple weeks ago, and Beckham is more like Cooks than Jones in size and style of play. And no matter who the opponent is, the Panthers stick to their zone defensive foundation. Does that mean Norman won’t travel as much with Beckham this week? I don’t know the answer to that. It will be interesting to see how this matchup everyone is anticipating shakes out, however.
– – – – – – –
NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.
