Davante Adams may have had a quiet rookie regular season, but he made a statement in his first career playoff game against the Cowboys. Lost in the headlines among a plethora of excellent rookie WRs this year, Adams only had one game above 100 yards in the regular season. In his game against the Cowboys, however, he seemed to be Rodgers’ go-to target, as he was thrown at 11 times. He caught 7 of those and turned them into 117 yards and a TD, with 79 of his receiving yards coming after the catch.

In this game, Adams showed not only the ability to make contested catches but also the ability to make things happen after the catch with great agility. On the majority of the catches that are about to be covered Adams put some sort of move on a defender to get himself some space. In my opinion, he’s shown enough in his first year as a receiver for me to believe that he’s going to be an effective weapon for the Packers in an offense that is already loaded with weapons. So, without further ado, lets get down to breaking down his targets in the game.

2-4-DAL 4 (Q1, 8:38) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass incomplete short left to D.Adams.

Near the goal line, this is Adam’s first “target” of the day, and it’s really a throwaway by Rodgers. I’m not sure if there’s a miscommunication between Rodgers and Adams on the play, but whatever they were running clearly didn’t work. My guess from watching this is that Adams is intended to run a slant on the play, but since Sterling Moore is in perfect position to defend the slant, nothing is there and Rodgers just throws the ball away.

2-7-DAL 27 (Q2, 11:27) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass incomplete deep middle to D.Adams.

http://i.imgur.com/sNzUPDD.png

On this play, Adams (top of the screen) is running a go route. The TE and slot WR are running crossing routes over the middle, and Nelson is running a comeback at the bottom of the screen. Here’s a .gif:

The Cowboys’ front four do a good job of rushing the passer, and two players get pressure on Rodgers. While he has Nelson open at the bottom of the screen, the pressure forces Rodgers to move in the pocket and he decides to throw the ball away again, in the direction of Adams.

2-9-GB 21 (Q2, 7:46) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short left to D.Adams pushed ob at GB 22 for 1 yard (O.Scandrick).

This is a screen play to Adams, but it doesn’t work. In my opinion, it’s not particularly well thought out by the Packers. Cobb, the slot WR, slants towards the middle of the field off the snap. This leaves Orlando Scandrick unblocked, and Adams now has to try to avoid both Scandrick and Moore. This is a death sentence for the play, and Adams fights, but he’s only able to gain a yard.

1-10-DAL 27 (Q2, :08) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short right to D.Adams to DAL 22 for 5 yards (B.Carter).

http://i.imgur.com/6ayWv7K.png

This is an interesting concept by the Packers. While the play is technically a quick slant, it actually functions like a screen because Cobb and Nelson block immediately on the play.

This play showcases some of Adams’ elusiveness as a runner, as he avoids the charging Scandrick (Cobb’s block also helped, and Scandrick likely would have made the tackle had he not been blocked). Making Scandrick miss allows Adams to pick up extra yardage on the play, and it turns into a respectable gain on first down.

2-6-DAL 12 (Q3, 9:03) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short right to D.Adams to DAL 7 for 5 yards (S.Moore).

http://i.imgur.com/17ENQ1t.png

The main design of this play is to get Cobb or Adams open over crossing the middle of the field. The both run in cuts, with Adams trailing behind Cobb. This forces LB Anthony Hitchens to split the gap between the two players and end up in no man’s land when the pass is thrown.

The thing that I like from Adams here is that he makes a very good cut and gets a step on Sterling Moore. What I don’t like, however, is that Adams doesn’t reach the first down marker. He fights for it, and with Hitchens hitting him quickly he doesn’t have a great chance, but if he had run a route past the sticks it would have been a first down. As a side note, this is the play where a brawl broke out afterward and TJ Lang got an unnecessary roughness penalty. So, it ended up as a 3rd and 16 instead of a 3rd and 1. The Packers were forced to kick a field goal. Had this been a first down, they may have been able to overcome the penalty and score a TD.

2-3-GB 17 (Q3, 3:32) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass incomplete deep right to D.Adams [A.Hitchens].

http://i.imgur.com/xBeHlmF.png

Adams is at the top of the screen, running a deep post on this play.

Rodgers has a fair amount of time in the pocket, but eventually it breaks down and he needs to scramble outside of it. At this point, Adams has already finished his route to no success, and what I like about this play is when he sees Rodgers leave the pocket he follows in the same direction:

http://i.imgur.com/VZrpsdo.png

While the ball falls incomplete (in fact it was almost intercepted by the deep safety) because Rodgers led Adams too far, it’s still nice to see the young WR improvise and be on the same page as his QB.