There are so many good things to take from “The Playcallers,” The Athletic’s special podcast series by Los Angeles Rams beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue about the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay tree. The podcast didn’t focus on Matt LaFleur, but she included him in it for context. And one particularly interesting aspect is who LaFleur is studying while trying to find new answers for his offensive scheme.
While interviewing the Green Bay Packers‘ head coach, Rodrigue mentioned that LaFleur’s screen showed he was analyzing offensive concepts from the San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins, and the Kansas City Chiefs. The first two are expected areas of study, because Shanahan and Mike McDaniel run similar versions of the West Coast/wide zone offense. However, the Chiefs run a very different offensive philosophy under head coach Andy Reid. So, what does LaFleur want from that?
The answer might be a way to attack Vic Fangio-style defenses. They have become prevalent in the NFL and are specifically built to limit what the play-action wide zone offenses are trying to accomplish.
Since 2014, the Chiefs had been extremely aggressive, especially after they moved on from Alex Smith, by exploring deep areas of the field. But without Tyreek Hill and while facing more two-deep looks, Andy Reid had to find new solutions starting last year. It worked. Mahomes led the league in passing yards, was the NFL MVP again, and the team won the Super Bowl for the second time in four years.
Indeed, it was a different style of offense. Patrick Mahomes had to be willing to throw short passes and an increased volume. One concept, in particular, was very interesting. and the Packers could frequently use it with Jordan Love: the 1-4 splits.
The Thinking Football channel did a good job of explaining the details of the tactic.
It wasn’t as frequently deployed in the NFL as it was in college football because of the alignment rules, but Andy Reid adapted and exploited it. In simple terms, the concept has one eligible receiver on one side of the formation and three on the other. The running back is also aligned on the strong side, creating four eligible receivers. It’s also possible, but less common, to align four eligible receivers on the same side with an empty backfield. Reid designed it to affect the defensive math because teams are using cover 2, cover 4, and cover 6 principles to create a numbers advantage against 2-2 and 1-3 splits.
The 1-4 splits concepts change it and have the potential to transform how Green Bay’s offense attacks two-deep looks. The team has already used some concepts, especially in 2021. One famous play, for instance, was when both Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon aligned on the backfield, and Jones motioned to the strong side of the formation — they used this play in the 2020 postseason, and have been using some variations of it since. Rich Madrid, from Acme Packing Company, showed some examples.
Now, though, it is particularly interesting because the Packers have the pieces to explore more of those options, even though it’s much easier to execute them perfectly with Mahomes and Travis Kelce. LaFleur can borrow concepts that the Chiefs used with Kelce, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and JuJu Smith-Schuster.
For example, on the weak side of the formation, LaFleur can use Romeo Doubs‘ route-running ability to execute quick slants against single coverage. The trips side allows him to explore deep concepts with Christian Watson, crossing routes with rookie tight end Luke Musgrave, or wheel routes designed to target running back Aaron Jones down the field. The addition of slot receiver Jayden Reed in the second round of the draft is an important alternative to align multiple receivers on the same side.
All these looks could help Jordan Love while he establishes himself. Even though LaFleur’s offense is known for its under-center/run-centric approach, Love has shown throughout his college and brief NFL experience that he can play out of the shotgun and operate the offense quickly. During “The Playcallers,” LaFleur highlighted how important it is for the coaching staff to build concepts that the quarterback is comfortable with while discussing how the Packers rebuilt their offense before the 2020 season.
“I do think if the guy in the huddle, the guy that’s calling the play, feels comfortable and confident in the play call, those guys, those other 10 men in the huddle, can feel that,” LaFleur said. “And you get a lot better chance of having success.”
There might be a perception the Packers offense will be more under center after trading Aaron Rodgers. But that’s not necessarily true. According to 247 Sports’ Dusty Evely, Green Bay’s offense was surprisingly more effective running from shotgun last year. Running from under center, they averaged 4.0 yards per carry, 14th in the NFL. When in shotgun, the Packers got 4.9 yards per run, sixth-best in the league.
The problem for the Packers in shotgun has been the play-action. They had 6.2 yards per attempt in play-action from the shotgun versus 7.8 yards per attempt from under center. Perhaps, the 1-4 splits are a smart solution to improve these numbers — and a better way to use Aaron Jones in the passing game.
Offenses and defenses are always trying to find solutions and evolving the matchup. With the Kyle Shanahan system in vogue, it’s natural that defensive coaches look for ways to minimize what they have done. So it’s smart for Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers’ offensive coaching staff to find answers in other schemes. After all, mixing philosophies to extract the most out of their players is what coaching football is all about.
