Through the Head Coach's Eyes: Malik Willis to Jayden Reed

Breaking Down the 51-Yard Completion from Willis to Reed that Won the Game for the Packers

When your starting quarterback goes down, you have to be able to pivot quickly and make adjustments. No one has done that better this year than Matt LaFleur and the Packers, who are now 3-0 in games that Jordan Love either didn’t start or missed a significant chunk of time.

On Sunday against the Jaguars, one of those adjustments happened on Green Bay’s final drive with the game on the line and less than 2 minutes remaining. The Packers had just squandered a 10-point lead and were relying on the Malik-Willis-led offense to find a way to escape with the win.

LaFleur had a shot play ready to go if Green Bay got the right look. It was a play they “didn’t even have up in the gameplan” and had “put in on the sideline,” according to LaFleur:

“We ran the keeper earlier in the game and [Passing Game Coordinator Jason] Vrable suggested it. He’s like, ‘hey, it looks like the play is there.’ So we put it in on the sideline.”

Below was the “keeper” LaFleur was referring to that the Packers had run in the third quarter. First, note the look. Green Bay was in 11 personnel, had tight splits to both sides, and Jayden Reed was aligned just off tackle to the right side of the formation:

The Packers would run boot off of wide zone to the left with split-flow action from the tight end:

The Jaguars rotated strong to single high in response. The corners locked up their receivers on the outside and there would be no defender down the left sideline after Willis booted to the right:

From the way Jacksonville responded to that play, Vrable could see that there was an opportunity to boot right and throw back to the left.

After Vrable told him, LaFleur kept that in his back pocket and waited for the right moment to pull it out.

That came on the final drive of the game.

With 1:48 remaining, the Packers came out on 1st down in the same look as that keeper they called in the 3rd quarter. Notice the 11 personnel with reduced splits to both sides and Jayden Reed aligned just off tackle to the right:

The Packers had two plays called in the huddle. The first was wide zone to the left with a split-flow block from tight end Tucker Kraft, identical to the run fake on the keeper:

The second play was a play-action boot “leak” pass that would attack the left sideline. If Green Bay got the right look, Willis would “can” or “kill” the first play at the line making the second play live.

They didn’t get the right look, however. According to LaFleur:

“They brought the nickel pressure on the first play. Didn’t get the look for it.”

Below you can see that the Jaguars had the safety stacked over the nickel to the right, a good pre-snap indicator of a potential blitz. And that would have disrupted the boot:

So Willis stuck with the wide zone to the left away from the nickel pressure, and the Packers picked up 4 yards:

They came out with the very same look on the next snap and had the same 2 plays called in the huddle: