How the Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love won on 4th down vs. the Lions

If you look at the overall Team Stats for this game at Pro Football Reference, it tells an accurate story of this being an extremely close game. The difference? The Green Bay Packers were 3-for-3 when going for it on 4th down, while the Detroit Lions were 0-2. Today, we’re just going to take a quick look at those 3 converted 4th downs for the Packers’ offense.

After the Packers scored a field goal on the opening drive of the game, the Packers and Lions went punt-punt-punt on their next 3 drives. The Packers started their 3rd drive on their own 23-yard line and put together a 9-play drive that got down to the Lions’ 22-yard line. Now on their 10th play, the Packers – up 3-0 – decide to go for it on 4th down rather than settle for a field goal.

Like any offense looking to attack a man coverage-heavy defense, the Packers arrived at Ford Field with some Mesh calls in their arsenal. Mesh is an Air Raid concept consisting of two shallow drag routes that cross each other in the middle of the field. This is one I typically tag as Mesh Stop, with Josh Whyle [81] initially running a crossing route, then pulling up in the middle of the field on a Stop route. That allows Christian Watson [9] to pivot out of his crossing route in search of space to the right.

While Mesh is a good man-beater – and a solid call in this situation – the Lions have a Rat player in the middle of the field, smack-dab in the mesh point. In addition to that, the initial vertical push from Watson is supposed to act as a kind of a wall for Romeo Doubs [87], but the spacing is a little off, and the defender over Doubs is able to release freely under Watson.

Love could keep his eyes on the middle to hold that linebacker and wait for Doubs to pop out the other side, but the coverage is good, and that would take a bit of time. The pocket is good early, but there are some outside rushers starting to break free.

Away from the action of Mesh, Dontayvion Wicks [13] is running an isolated vertical route on the outside. He slow-plays the initial release on a stalk block (likely looking to engage if it ends up being a quick pass underneath), then releases to the outside. With the single-high safety held in the middle of the field, Love throws this ball up the sideline, over the boundary defender.

A drop in the bucket, man.

Packers lead 10-0.

The Lions had just scored a TD, their first points of the game. The Packers lead 10-7 with 7:54 remaining in the 1st half. The Packers put together an 11-play drive, getting the ball to the Lions’ 2-yard line. On the 12th play, the Packers once again opt to try to score a TD instead of settling for a field goal.

This is a play off a goal line passing concept the Packers love. The original concept is called Shield. It’s a two-man concept that calls for the point man in a stack to aggressively push vertically, while the underneath man cuts tight on his hip. If run right, it’s extremely hard to defend.

The Packers fast-motion Doubs under the formation, and he’s followed by a defender. That gives them a 3×1 look and creates a two-man stack with Watson and Doubs. The Lions’ defenders have a hand signal post-motion, which seems to signal Banjo coverage. Banjo is a technique where they’re playing man coverage, but, in the event of a switch at the line, the outside man will take the receiver who releases outside, and the inside man will take the man who releases inside.

Watson and Doubs switch off the line, triggering the Banjo. Watson pushes vertically, then cuts inside, drawing the outside man. Doubs hesitates off the line, gets the defender leaning in, then cuts to the outside.

Love throws a nice ball to the outside and the Packers pick up 6.

Packers lead 17-14.

The Lions ended their last drive with a field goal, giving the Packers the ball back with 2:59 remaining in the game and a 31-24 lead. The Packers gain 20 yards on 6 plays, forcing the Lions to use all their timeouts. After an incomplete pass on 3rd & 3, the Packers line up to try to win the game on offense. A conversion here allows the Packers to run out the clock. A failure to convert gives the Lions the ball back on their own 45-yard line.

The Lions come out with a single-high safety and everyone else tight to the line of scrimmage. The Packers are in 11 personnel in a 3×1 Trips Right formation, with the TE alone on the left. They’re running a Smash Fade variant with Watson and Doubs. They had been running vertical routes all day, and nearly hit Watson on a TD off Smash Fade early in the 2nd quarter (the play directly before the Wicks TD, in fact). As a team that is pretty well known for bombing the ball on 3rd & 4th down, they’re clearly trying to play off of that.

On that Smash Fade variant, Doubs is running a quick slant, while Watson releases vertically on a fade route up the sideline. They’re selling the vertical route, then Watson puts on the brakes and runs a comeback. The idea is to get the boundary defender to open up, then have room underneath once Watson cuts off the vertical route.

As the #3 man in Trips, Wicks is running a crossing route.

At the snap, Love scans the field. His first look is at Jack Campbell [46], checking to make sure he’s not dropping back into zone. Campbell initially releases to the line, down on Brooks. That tells Love that Campbell won’t be dropping into zone, so he will have room to Wicks on the crosser if he needs to.

After that, he checks on the safety – holding in place – then moves to work the Smash Fade concept. He gives it a brief glimpse, but it’s a slow-developing play, and the pocket is starting to break down, so he immediately comes back to the middle. Wicks isn’t quite ready for the ball yet, so Love fades in the pocket to buy a little extra time, then lofts a ball high to Wicks just as Alim McNeill [56] delivers a hit.

Wicks has a great release off the line to immediately get inside leverage on Brian Branch [32], gets a little separation at the top of the route, then fully extends to bring in the catch.

Packers kneel out the clock and secure a 31-24 victory.

Albums listened to: Alvvays – Blue Rev; Christian Kjellvander – Ex Voto/The Silent Love; Rosie Thomas – When We Were Small