Welcome back to The Passing Chronicles, your weekly look at things I either liked or didn’t like in the passing game from the previous week. I hope you all are enjoying reading these as much as I’m enjoying writing them. We’re only three weeks in but I feel like I’ve learned a lot already.

Going into this game, Washington’s defense was generating pressure on 29.7% of dropbacks, good for 12th in the league (per Football Outsiders). I expected to see the Packers combat that with a lot of quick throws off 3-5 step drops. We did not necessarily get that, but I still found quite a few concepts to like in Week 3. Of course, I also found things not to like. As always, in the spirit of ending on an optimistic note, let’s start with the things I didn’t like.

What I Didn’t Like

This is the big 3rd down drop from the 1st quarter. Yes, this pass hit Randall Cobb [18] in the hands and he should be ashamed and blah blah blah. I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about routes.

There’s not much creativity here. Cobb has to get inside position and beat his man on the route, but that’s all on Cobb. Geronimo Allison [81] is running a dig from the outside and Jimmy Graham [80] is running to the flat after chipping. The movement is fine, but the spacing is less-than-ideal. Look at the linebacker who drops out on the flat. Given the timing of Graham’s release, he’s able to sit under the dig from Allison and still pick up Graham when he leaks out. If you pull that linebacker out, you’ve got your choice of either Cobb or Allison.

Washington was bringing pressure on this play, so I understand the need for keeping some extra protection back. There’s a way to do that while still getting some spacing. You could:

Have Graham stay back even longer to block. That would help sell his blocking to the linebacker, who would then be free to stay under the route of Allison. When the defender commits, Graham leaks out and has the whole side of the field to operate with. Keep Graham back to block and bring the running back out of the backfield to the flat on the other side of the field. With pressure coming from all angles and a go route to that side, he would have a lot of room to work with. Have Allison run a slant from the outside. That would force the defender to commit sooner than he does here, and it wouldn’t conflict with the timing of Graham’s release.

One more thing I want to say about this play. Check out the blitz pick-up in the middle:

Washington is running some action in the middle and Corey Linsley [63] and Jamaal Williams [30] are having none of it. It’s a seamless transition, ending with Linsley throwing a man down and Williams stoning a man who outweighs him by nearly 100 pounds. This is beautiful. In fact, let’s watch nothing but that switch:

See? Even on a play I don’t like, there is something to love. Beauty can be found anywhere.

Look at the routes from the outside on the right. We’ve got a little follow concept going on. I don’t hate the idea, but the thought behind this particular combination seems like it’s only half thought-out. I would like to see a tighter follow with violent breaks. Here, both routes seem meandering, breaking not far from each other. When Davante Adams [17] breaks on the dig, have Randall Cobb [18] break suddenly on a curl. Since the outside defender is backpedaling, a quick curl from Cobb would open a nice timing throw.

Or, again, have the follow be tighter and have Adams break on a post at the same time Cobb is breaking on an out route.

There are a lot of things that can be done with this concept, but I don’t like this particular iteration. A couple small tweaks and it would be tremendous.

When I picture man-beater routes, this is what I picture. A grand total of 3 routes – one from the left, one from the right, one out of the backfield – and none of them really playing off each other. Randall Cobb [18] ends up running a nice route on the right and Aaron Rodgers [12] hits him, but it’s a tougher throw than it should be. You could do something simple like Jamaal Williams [30] releasing to that side, pulling up the underneath defenders and creating a larger window. That would have been helpful. Instead, we get Cobb running an out-and-up/curl to create space on his own, while Williams runs a mid-curl and doesn’t help open space to either Cobb or Davante Adams [17].

I want to be clear: I’m not blaming Williams for this. He’s doing what he’s being asked to do. I just don’t like anything about this play.

Let’s move on.

What I Did Like

1st & 10 in the red zone. Off the right side, the Packers are running a drag from the outside, a dig off the end of the line and a post from the slot. That sets up a levels concept read, but where the routes are run from is very important here. If you want to talk about the impact of having Jimmy Graham [80] on the field, this is a perfect example. He pushes up the field – drawing a chip from the linebacker – before cutting on the dig. Once he comes off the chip, the safety crashes on him.

Watch the route of Randall Cobb [18] from the slot. He pushes out like he’s heading to the pylon, turning his defender. As soon as that happens, he cuts in. With the safety crashing on Graham, the middle of the field is wide open.

Aaron Rodgers [12] is in the process of fleeing the pocket when the break occurs, so this ball comes out a little late. The other safety has had time to recover, so this is a tougher throw. It didn’t connect here, but this is a lovely little route combo.

The leg is clearly still bothering Rodgers. This is by no means an easy throw – he’s drifting right and throwing slightly across his body – but it’s one Rodgers generally makes in his sleep.

This isn’t quite the same concept as the one we just looked at, but it isn’t too far off. On it’s face, this looks like a Smash concept (corner route over a curl) on the right, with Davante Adams [17] running a hook/curl on the outside and Randall Cobb [18] running a corner route from the slot. At least, that’s what they’re selling to the defense and that’s what the defense is diagnosing. Watch Cobb at the top of the route: he gives a cut to the corner before coming back to the post. The defender – having seen the underneath route – is thinking it will be a corner route and jumps that, only to have Cobb come back on the post. It’s playing off tendencies but it’s also playing off well-worn route concepts. Zig when they expect you to zag.

Aaron Rodgers [12] has time, but he’s focused on the other side of the screen when Cobb goes into his break. If you watch Cobb’s defender, you’ll see him starting off with inside position, which would not be conducive to the post route opening up. It’s possible Rodgers saw this and looked elsewhere.

It’s also a little tricky because it’s the focus of Rodgers on the left side of the field that draws the safety out of the middle. If Rodgers is looking at Cobb, he would have noticed the defender bailing on the corner, but it also would have drawn the safety to the middle and possibly closed off the throw.

Cobb looks open because he is open, but there are reasons Rodgers didn’t see it until it was too late. Still, I like this concept a lot.

I talked last week about how the Packers seem to be liking the Jimmy Graham [80]/Randall Cobb [18] stack look off the end of the line. They do that again on this play.

On this particular play, they set up that they’ll be running a variation of the Texas concept. (“Texas” is a widely-used concept from the West Coast Offense, where you have a tight end off the line running a clear-out route and have someone from the backfield running an angle route underneath. It’s called Texas because, when run correctly, the backfield person will be running into a swath of field “the size of Texas.”)

I say this is a variation because, in this instance, the backfield man is actually just lined up behind the tight end in the stack.

Watch Cobb as the underneath receiver. He pushes wide like he would on an angle route and ends up continuing to run into the flat. The hope is that the linebacker will jump the threat of the angle route, leaving Cobb wide open in the flat. It doesn’t work here, but it gives you an idea of some of the variations the Packers are working with.

Hey! Speaking of variations!

I’ve been looking at every pass play from the previous week multiple times, but I haven’t quite gotten around to charting everything. So I don’t have official numbers, but I would say that slant/flat is a route combo the Packers have used more than any other combination over the first 3 weeks. It’s not surprising: it’s a staple of the West Coast Offense, is a way to pick up some easy yards and includes some nice variations.

On the right side, you’ll see what looks like a slant/flat, with Jimmy Graham [80] on the flat and Geronimo Allison [81] on the slant. Watch the safety crash the slant route. Allison does a nice job selling the slant before hitting the Sluggo (slant-and-go) up the field. No one is home in the middle of the field, so it’s an easy throw-and-catch for a 64 yard touchdown.

Set up your tendencies, then run a variation and hit the defense for a big play. It’s what you work for and it paid off here.

Listen man. I don’t know if this was planned this way or not, but it worked so I’m happy. Flood routes to the right, sneak the running back out of the backfield late. Get the entire defense moving and looking in one direction and throw back to the spot they just vacated. Washington isn’t bringing pressure so I have to assume this is just a blown coverage, but, in general, I’m a fan of this kind of movement.

One of my favorite goal line plays: the double-slant-follow. You’ll see this on the left. When run well with even numbers (two receivers on two defenders), it’s pretty much impossible to defend. I’d like to see this run a little tighter and not give the outside defender a chance to shoot the gap, but the hesitation step from Davante Adams [17] on the outside helped to hold the defender just enough to have space to catch the ball and cross the line. I’m always a fan of seeing this.

Here we have one of my favorite route combos: the post/wheel. We have a post/dig in the middle of the field, dragging the defense away from the sideline. Lance Kendricks [84] starts off the end of the line, giving a chip before meandering into the flat. He sells that release really well; so well that the defender is absolutely playing the flat route. Without any hint to what he’s doing, he flips his head around and wheels up the sideline while his defender comically spins his arms around trying to change direction.

Well-drawn-up play, perfectly executed. Right until the moment the ball clanged off Kendricks’ hands. Still, this was a really nice design and I’m looking forward to seeing it again in a big moment.

A big thing I’ve been preaching over these first few weeks has been a lack of depth in some of the route combos. This is a perfect illustration of why I’ve been harping on that.

Look at the right side of the field. We have an out/dig/go combination, with the man off the end of the line running an out, the slot man running a dig and the outside man running a go. Look at what that goes to Washington’s zone. The shallow dig holds that defender in place. The middle defender passes off the out route to drop back down towards the line to pick up the dig route. That leaves the single deep defender on that side responsible for the deep out and the go route. If the out route is run shallower, the defender who originally picked up the dig could easily fall back and pick it up. As these routes currently stand, the out is deep enough to be clear of the shallow defender, which puts the deep defender in a pickle. He can’t pick up both routes and the shallow man can’t drop under the out in time.

This throw quickly goes to Ty Montgomery [88] in the flat, but if Aaron Rodgers [12] had looked over to his right, the Packers could have picked up a decent chunk of yards.

That’ll do it for this week. I’ll be putting more plays up over on Twitter for a quicker look at those that didn’t make it into the column, so keep an eye out for that.

Albums listened to: Prince – Piano & A Microphone 1983; Metric – Art of Doubt; Greg Laswell – Next Time; Kristofer Astrom – Quadrilogy; Chilly Gonzales – Solo Piano III; Richard Swift – The Hex