Divisional Week rolled into town with 4 great games, all
expecting to be close, and all finishing with a points margin of less than 8
points. This week, I will be taking a look at Packers trip across the US to
Arizona.
Arizona was coming off a Bye week after earning the #2 Seed
in the NFC. Lead by veteran QB Carson Palmer, the offence finished 2nd
in Scoring Offence, 2nd in Passing Yards and Top of the pile in
Total Offence. Their Defence wasn’t shabby either, ranking 8th in
Scoring Defence and 5th in Yards Against. Add to that a finishing
record of 13-3, going 7-1 down the stretch, and you can see why teams would
have wanted to avoid coming up against the Cardinals. Then there are the Green
Bay Packers. Up and Down season by their standards but still managed to put
together a respectable 10-6 record. QB Aaron Rodgers is always on the list of
MVP candidates at the start of the season and a defence that on its day can
smother an offence. But that’s been their problem, it’s been the whole teams’
problem. They haven’t been on there day, enough to scare teams like the hosting
Cardinals.
These teams had met before during the run to the
post-season, with Arizona taking the upper hand. They comfortably saw off Green
Bay, 38-8. But when it comes to the second game, you knew HC Mike McCarthy
would have made the necessary adjustments.
This was a close one throughout, low scoring in the 1st
Half, but coming alive in the Second. 27 points scored by both teams in the 2nd
Half, 17 in the 4th Quarter including another converted Hail Mary by
Rodgers.
We are going to jump straight to Over Time for this week’s
piece. Cardinals have won the toss and chose to receive. When you choose to
receive in OT, it is key that you put points on the board in that 1st
drive. By choosing either way you are saying ‘this is our best unit and we are
going to win this way’.
This is the 1st play of OT.
So here we go. Arizona come out swinging from the start. HC
and decision maker Bruce Arians has decided that their best chance on moving
the ball is going to come from Veteran Superstar WR Larry Fitzgerald (Circled
at the bottom of the shot). Starting out aggressive they are going to move him
tight in motion pre-snap then have him running an intermediate crosser
underneath a Slice and a Fade by the stacked receivers at the top of the
formation. The HB is staying home to help block while the TE is going to have a
delayed release into the flats for a check-down.
The Packers Defence is running a Biltz. This should be the
perfect playcall for what the Offence is running. Palmer needs time for
Fitzgerald to get open, so by sending 6 the Packers are going to stress the
Pass Protection. This is where it gets murky. I have drawn in what I think the
coverage due to experience of the Packers Defence and their style of protecting
their blitzes. I believe it to be a ‘3 under 3’ zone as I doubt that Green bay
would want Peppers matched up on a HB. Now keep an eye on the 2 circled
defender, they affect how this play develops…
As you can see, #23 has turned Fitzgerald loose as he breaks
across the field (adding this to a big man in coverage enforces my suspicions
of zone coverage). However, the player I circled at the top of the screen has
stayed on the WR he was aligned over. This creates a huge hole at the top of
the screen for Fitzgerald to run into and settle down. The Pressure almost
bails the Packers out, but Palmer does just enough to escape and find his
target for what seems to be a 1st down that will get about as far as
Midfield at best.
Now kids looking for a WR to sculpt their game around won’t
go too far wrong looking at Fitzgerald. Now there is a time and a place for
running this down the line and going out of bounds. But that’s not what Larry
has on his mind. He’s going to keep going ‘north, south’ while running to
space. If #37 or any of the noted Defenders bring him down in the next 5 yards,
he’ll neither have lost nor gained any yards. But if he makes #37 miss, he
brings blockers into play.
Another coaching tip for all Receiver… If you don’t have the
football, make yourself useful. You never know when the chance for a big play
is going to happen, don’t miss it by being lazy. Arizona’s Receivers work hard
to get down field and spring some key blocks as the ageing Fitzgerald strolls
closer and closer to the End zone…
He makes it inside the 5 yard line before the Packers
eventually bring him down. That’s around 40 extra yards because Fitzgerald
didn’t want to give up.
This huge play sets up the eventually game winner that is a
clever play in itself, but without this play, the Cardinals may never have got
down there.
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