On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers’ backup quarterback Malik Willis, 25, made his first start in two years and only the fourth in his career. Matt LaFleur wisely had a simple and obvious game plan for Willis and the offense to attack the Indianapolis Colts without putting too much pressure on the inexperienced QB.
LaFleur’s plan was simple: Run the ball heavily and occasionally throw short routes to the playmakers.
It seems like a strategy Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr would try to execute in 1966. On Sunday, the Packers went old school on offense because the Colts’ defense was exploited heavily against the Houston Texans last week.
Last Sunday, the Texans rushed for 213 yards against Indianapolis on only 40 attempts, averaging 5.3 yards per rush. Joe Mixon specifically went off, getting 159 yards in 30 carries and scoring a touchdown.
Any team that can run the ball like that will dominate the line of scrimmage and control the game’s tempo. Everyone who watched the Colts play last week knows that their run defense is the weakest link on that team. So, with Jordan Love out, LaFleur figured that Green Bay would win if they built the game plan around Josh Jacobs, and he played well.
Guess what? He did.
Green Bay’s offense dominated immediately, scoring on their first two drives and nearly scoring on the third. They ran Jacobs up the middle, and he repeatedly picked up first downs. The Packers also kicked a 46-yard field goal to take an early lead when the drive stalled.
On the second drive, Jacobs scored a 20-yard touchdown that was called back on a holding penalty. The run game got the defense’s attention, though. Willis threw a 14-yard touchdown pass three plays later to Dontayvion Wicks to put the Pack up 10-0.
The third drive looked like it would result in another score. Unfortunately, Jacobs had the ball stripped out of his grasp at the one-yard line, and the Colts recovered it in the end zone for a touchback.
As unfortunate as that was, Green Bay was a yard away from taking a 17-0 lead in the second quarter with a backup quarterback who joined the team three weeks ago. They were dominating the line of scrimmage and controlling the game’s tempo.
Jacobs exploited the Colts’ defense in the first half to the tune of 128 yards on 20 carries. However, unlike last week, Jacobs did not have a big second half. Nor did the rest of the offense. They would only have two more scoring drives, both of which ended with field goals. It wasn’t pretty, but the NFL has no style points.
The one issue is that they didn’t stick with that plan throughout the second half. It seemed like LaFleur had called pass plays on first and second down on several drives. When they resulted in short completions or reverses that lost yards, Green Bay would be stuck with a third-and-long situation, leading to a punt.
Indianapolis’ defense made adjustments at halftime to neutralize Jacobs. They sent more pressure and put more defenders in the box. But with how they have been manhandled physically over the previous week and that first half, Green Bay should have flexed their muscle and continued to ground and pound. Instead, they tried to run reverses and screens and lost yards.
Jacobs only had 12 carries in the second half, resulting in 23 more yards. He finished with 151 yards for the game, and the offense had 261 rushing yards. Give Emanuel Wilson more carries if they ran less because Jacobs was fatigued. He will need many reps to be a solid second back throughout the season. Wilson only had five carries during the game.
However, the team’s successful running game in the first half allowed Willis to play creatively and without pressure in the second. He picked up a first down and some more positive gains on rushing plays, finishing with 41 yards on six carries. Willis also completed a semi-deep ball to Romeo Doubs for a 29-yard gain early in the fourth quarter.
Green Bay’s simple and obvious game plan to beat Indianapolis up between the hashes worked fantastically in the first half. They just need to stay consistent and perform in the fourth quarter. The Packers didn’t last week and failed to do so this week. But they showed flashes of what they can still accomplish, even with Jordan Love on the sideline.
