The Green Bay Packers pulled out an impressive upset victory against the Indianapolis Colts. With Green Bay’s star quarterback Jordan Love out with a leg injury, the Colts came into the game favored to win on the road in Lambeau Field.
After pulling off the upset, Matt LaFleur was asked if the game was one of his favorite wins of his coaching tenure, and he responded definitively:
Yeah, absolutely. They’re all great but the challenges of going into a football game without your quarterback, with a guy who’s been here for three weeks. It’s a credit to everybody.
For a head coach who tends to defer praise and stay even-keeled, that’s about as enthused as it gets after a game. LaFleur was brimming with joy in his post-game locker room breakdown:
What was Green Bay’s strategy to pull off the upset? Run. The. Ball.
It was no shock that the Packers wanted to lean on a run-heavy script coming into the game. “53 rushes,” LaFleur said after the game. “That’s what we wanted to do coming into this game, and to be able to do that. It’s one thing to want to do that. But to be able to go out there and execute that, I think it says a lot about really all 11 out there.”
The real surprise was just how effective their run game ended up being. The wide receivers played a critical role in making it happen by getting involved in rushing the ball with creative motions and by maintaining a blocking mindset throughout the game.
“Coach LaFleur told us at the beginning of the week, ‘Man, get your blocking gloves on,’” Jayden Reed said. “This was a blocking game for us. We went out there. We did our job.”
Malik Willis scrambling for a 19-yard gain after a blitz was a great example of this. As soon as Christian Watson and Reed realize the pass play has broken down, they move downfield to deliver blocks.
Beyond blocking, the wide receivers also were doing a ton of cardio by being put into pre-snap motions to stretch the field horizontally and spread out defenders. Last week against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Packers incorporated some orbit motion of Reed in the backfield to draw defenders away from strong-side explosive runs from Jacobs.
This week, we saw the Packers bring back Jacobs and Reed in the backfield. Instead of using Reed as misdirection for Jacobs, they had Reed catch the ball on the strong side with blockers out in front for a big run of his own.
We also saw some continued use of orbit motion. In this play, Willis has a great fake at the mesh point before deciding to pull the ball and pitch it to the motion player instead of having Jacobs run it.
Even though it’s a heavy box with many defenders by the line of scrimmage, the second level of defense either bites down on the fake or is delayed in reacting to the motion player getting the ball. LaFleur confirmed after the game that wrinkles were added this week to the run game to incorporate more motion.
Although the game script was predictably run-heavy, the Packers were still able to find success in a variety of run schemes. A big part of it was keeping multiple wide receivers on the field to either distract, block, or run the ball themselves. They were a big reason the Packers could create complex looks and put pressure on the Colts’ defenders.
Give credit to Willis. He operated the offense quickly and efficiently and protected the football, allowing the Packers to continue to run the ball and keep the game script in their favor.
Overall, this was a great team win that showed, regardless of who is at quarterback, the Packers have the personnel and coaching to find different paths to victory. That should have fans excited for the season.
