Photo credit: @Packers Twitter account
On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers went into hostile Minnesota territory and beat the Vikings 24-21 in a closely contested divisional showdown.
While the score was close, the Packers did one impressive thing that in the past wasn’t a sure thing.
They were able to ground out the clock to protect the victory.
This game was the first time in several weeks that the Packers didn’t have a monster lead that allowed Matt Flynn to come into the game for mop up duty. Against the Vikings on Sunday, the Packers needed their starters all 60 minutes for a 3-point win.
With 3:28 left in the fourth quarter, the Vikings scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 24-21. This necessitated the Packers to go into clock-killing mode.
When the Packers got the ball back, everyone knew what would happen next. They would hand the ball off to Eddie Lacy as many times as needed to kill the clock. The Packers knew it. The Vikings knew it. Everyone watching on TV knew it. Everyone in the stands knew it.
While examining their ability to ground out the clock, we’ll also look at few of the criticisms the Packers have been hearing all year about their running game:
- The run blocking isn’t as good as last year.
- Eddie Lacy hasn’t found his groove that he had last year.
- Eddie Lacy is having a hard time finding holes and lacks in vision.
Are these true? Let’s take a look.
The first play below is 1st down and 10 yards from their own 20-yard line with 3:23 remaining. The Packers came out in a double tight heavy look (22 personnel: 2 RB, 2 TE), indicating run. The play is the lead inside zone with Kuhn (30) as the lead blocker. The zone play has the offensive linemen slanting in the direction of the ball movement with the idea of creating cutback lanes for the running back.
The offensive line did a good job at the point of attack and Kuhn stuffed the linebacker (52) in the hole. Yet, Lacy only gained 3 yards. I tried to find something wrong with this play, but I really couldn’t. Everyone knew the inside run was coming, so to get 3 yards on it was pretty good. There was no real cutback lane for Lacy to chose from, so he fell forward for 3 yards.
The next 2nd down play does gain 5 yards, but it was far from a perfect play. It was the Lombardi power sweep to the field side out of the 22 double tight heavy look. Both guards pull and Kuhn (30) meets the linebacker (52) in the alley. The right tackle (75) blocks down and the right guard (70) is responsible for the first defender outside the tight end (81). Then, the left guard (71) is responsible for sealing the boundary side of the alley.
The play was blocked very well, and Lacy should have gained much more than 5 yards. He was too impatient and cut back inside too quickly. If he was more patient, and let the alley develop, he may still be running. The alley between 52 and 92 was gigantic because Kuhn and Bulaga (75) sealed it perfectly, but Lacy flat out missed it. Even though it was a 5-yard gain and kept the clock running, it was poor execution by Lacy. It’s possible that he never saw the alley open, which has been one of his most frequent criticisms.
On 3rd down and 3 yards, the Packers come out with the gun from 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR). It’s a run or pass look, which you’d expect on third down. Chances are, however, the Packers will run to keep the clock running. The play is the lead inside zone with Quarless (81) as the lead blocker, and Lacy gains 4 yards, making a 1st down. The offensive line does a good job blocking and Lacy hits the correct hole. In this case, the H-back (81) totally whiffs on his block of 98. If Quarless would have made the block, Lacy may have gained a few extra yards. That’s the only glaring error on this play. Can’t fault the line or Lacy on this one.
On the ensuing 1st down, the Packers again go the 22 double tight end heavy look and run the lead inside zone. Everyone knows it’s coming, yet the Packers gain 5 yards on it. The offensive line did a good job blocking, and Kuhn met the linebacker (54) in the hole. A 5-yard gain on 1st down is nice, but once again, it could have been more. Lacy got impatient and cut it back inside. The correct read was to follow Kuhn to the outside, wait for him to engage 54, and then cut to the outside. If he had done that, he could have easily gained 5 more yards before he met the safety (22). Another disappointing read from Lacy.
The next 2nd down play was the dagger and the last meaningful snap before kneel downs. The Packers are again in the 22 double tight heavy and go to the inside zone to the field side. This time, Lacy gains 10 yards, but it’s more a product of the Vikings simply conceding victory at this point. The blocking up front was good, but Lacy carried the pile for about 5 more yards. Game over. However, it’s worth noting that I believe Lacy did make the correct cutback on this play.
So, what does this all mean?
First, it means the Packers can effectively ground out the clock while on the road in their division. That’s a huge positive to take away.
Second, it also means the offensive line is doing a good job up front blocking in the run game. I think we can put that criticism to bed. Lacy did have over 100 yards on the ground during the game, and that is a very welcomed sight.
Both of these aspects were very much in question in the past. This development is very encouraging and will certainly help the Packers down the road, and even more so in the postseason.
However, everything isn’t all rosy. There’s certainly a lot of room for improvement, especially with Eddie Lacy. While these 5 runs are only a small microcosm of an entire game, let alone the whole season, they do highlight two of Eddie’s major flaws.
He doesn’t always make the correct cutback decision, and his vision is lacking at times, which is clear when he appears to miss the cutback lane or just flat out chooses the wrong lane.
Even though Lacy did win the Offensive Rookie of Year award in 2013, his largest pre-draft criticism (other than his famous fused toe) was his lack of vision and inability to create his own space. While his 125 yards against Minnesota was excellent, his flaws are still evident and could be a liability against better defenses. The Vikings are 21st in the NFL against the run.
He’s young and improving, so there’s still plenty of time to correct this. He’ll have to fix it if he hopes to take that next step in becoming an elite back and putting the entire team on his back as they march through the cold weather postseason.
I believe the GIFs embedded above to be fair use under the premise of being short clips of the original broadcast that are transformative for news reporting, commentary, critique, illustration, and teaching purposes.
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Jay Hodgson is an independent sports blogger writing for AllGreenBayPackers.com and WISports.com.
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Always instructive, always great. Thank you Jay…
Good job Jay! Coaching needs to work with Lacy to recognize the correct lanes and holes to run through. He seems to depend on his ability to bull through and as a result is leaving some yards on the field. Go Pack Go! Thanks, Since ’61
Thanks, CroatPF and 61 for the kind words. Go Pack Go!
It seems to me as if Lacy was trying to figure out where the blocking was allowing the best penetration. He didn’t really get it right until the final run.
So I think what this really illustrates is why most running backs need 15+ carries in a game (and multiple carries in a series) to really get going. Right now Lacy seems to need 20+ carries a game, cutting that number down to 15 will depend on how much he can learn from film study.
As always, thanks for posting these, you put a lot of good information in them.
Hey Jay – thanks again. Your breakdowns are always informative and helpful. If I might offer a suggestion though – would it be possible to slow the GIFs down a bit? Us non-football-as-a-profession peeps might have trouble seeing what you are seeing without looking at each fast GIF 5 times. I know there is free video editing software online that does this…
That’s a good idea. I’ve played around with slowing the GIFs down, but it gives the appearance the computer is bogged down and slow, which might frustrate some readers. I’ll play around with it some more in the future. If I do use slower GIFs, I’ll be very clear with the readers their computers aren’t broken. I won’t post a full speed and a half speed GIF of the same play because that’s really asking for a lot of bandwidth and would kill some browsers, especially mobile devices.
I’ll also talk to Jersey Al and see what he thinks and wants.
If you are using Chrome as a browser there is an extension called GIF Scrubber which will give you some control over animated GIF’s.
You could an ancient IPod with a slow Internet connection like I have. That really slows them down!
John Kuhn and Corey Linsley are studs. They don’t stop until the opponent is on the ground. Thanks for the insights.
Eddie LAcy is a good back. Le’veon Bell is an elite back. Unfortunately, TT couldn’t see that on draft day.
I’ll take Eddie “The Hammer” Lacy any day over Tinker Bell. Surely you can’t be serious Archie. It kills you that TT is a living legend doesn’t it.
Unfortunately, your blind TT hate keeps you from the facts sometimes. Bell was selected 14 spots in front Of Eddie Lacy.
LOL. Stop getting confused by the facts, Al. Archie hath spoken.
Besides, you forgot to mention that since the draft Lacy has more total yards rushing (1850 to 1811), a higher per carry average (4.2 to 4.1), more TDs by a mile (17 to 10), and more first downs (98 to 96). Although Bell has considerably more yards receiving (883 to 592), this is entirely a function of the fact that Bell gets almost twice as many passes. Lacy’s per catch average is higher than Bell’s (9.3 to 8.7) and he has scored more receiving touchdowns (3 to 2).
Don’t worry. Apparently TT didn’t know anything about this either.
Le’Veon was injured and missed the first four games last year. Doesn’t that make him a bust in your eyes, or is that Cow’s theory? I can never tell you guys apart.
Not to mention Lacy’s perfect rating as a pass blocker.
True, Lacy is a good pass blocker and I’m not sure how Bell does in that department. However, Marcus Allen is a HOF and Bell reminds me of Allen. Marcus Allen says Bell reminds him of himself too. That is high praise. Lacy is fun to watch and I love the guy as a football player and personality. All I’m saying is talent-wise one is red chip, maybe red plus and the other is blue plus i.e., HOF material if he continues what he is doing for the next 5 to 8 years. I also think a GM should have been able to see that difference when he was scouting the two players. Pittsburgh certainly did. They were ecstatic with their pick on draft day. In fact, they said, Lacy wasn’t even on their board. Wheras, TT said he traded down because he was indifferent between all the RBs on the board and knew he would get one of them no mattwer what and it didn’t matter to him which one. Of course, he’s the same guy that wouldn’t give up a R4 pick for M Lynch. And he’s the same guy that hired a HC that said it did not matter how productive your runs were, only that you ran the ball so many times per game. If that isn’t one of the most idiotic statements ever uttered by a HC I don’t know what is.
Great job as always Jay. One the best segments of blog land every week.
My guess is if every run for every NFL RB were analyzed the number of holes and cutbacks missed would the same or more than Eddie’s. The great thing is most RBs don’t have guys bouncing of them Eddie does.
Happy Thanksgiving Al and all Packers fans! I’m thankful to be a fan of the greatest and most legendary team of the earth!