Packers Vs. Bears - 3 Plays That Make You Go Hmmm

Jersey Al picks out three thought-provoking plays from the Packers' last game.

After re-watching the Packers game, here are three plays that made me go hmmm, for various reasons.

Wyatt Sighting - Nothing terribly exciting here, but, hey, the guy exists! Wyatt only played for nine snaps against the Bears (as did TJ Slaton), as Joe Barry continues to rely heavily on his 2 down lineman approach. Here, it's Wyatt and Lowry on a third and five. Wyatt is in because the Packers are likely expecting a pass, but the Bears try to cross them up. It's a play that would have worked if not for Wyatt getting off the attempted trap block, as the Packers' linebackers get occupied by linemen getting downfield. Of course, that's the problem with playing two down lineman, it frees up offensive linemen to get to the next level and block the linebackers. That's what can turn a three yard gain into an eight yard gain. Here Wyatt has little problem getting off the block of the highly overrated Tevin Jenkins, who is coming for him. Remember when people though the Packers should draft him in the first round as an OT? Yikes! I had him as an unathletic phone booth tackle - which doesn't exist anymore in this league. I was happy to see him go to Chicago and he's not even that good as a guard. Getting back on track, you can no longer say you haven't seen Wyatt do anything this year (he says tongue-in-cheek). 

 

Time is On My Side - As an offensive line aficionado, I just had to include this somewhat pedestrian play. By my stopwatch, Rodgers throws the ball six seconds after it was snapped, and he could have waited longer if he wanted to. (thankfully, Rodgers took the easy completion, something I have often criticized him for not doing, so kudos to you Mr. Rodgers). getting back to the point, pick one of the offensive linemen at a time and just follow that guy through the entire play. While you can say that the Bears front four are not world beaters (especially with Robert Quinn gone), every Packers OL is a brick wall. The best is Elgton Jenkins, who throws a 310lb. defensive lineman to the ground at the end - just for the hell of it.

 

Elementary My Dear Watson - OK, so I don't usually give you big plays in this series, but I thought it would be fun to point out some of the other cool stuff going on in this play. The Packers come out after the two-minute warning and are facing a second and seven. It seems like a good time to go with the old reliable toss play. The Packers execute the fake perfectly. First Tonyan comes over and sets up on the right, bringing a linebacker with him. More "evidence" the Packers are running that way. When Watson goes in motion,the Bears likely regard it as merely a distraction, as it has been all game  The ball is snapped, the Packers execute their ruse, and if you stop the video at the 8 second mark, you can count NINE Chicago Bears players who are convinced it's a running play going to their left. The Packers' offensive line executes their zone run blocks to the right and if you want to see something funny, watch Zach Tom. He actually sets up a wall block to keep a Bear from getting over to the Packers' right (even as Watson is crossing the LOS with the ball). It's hilarious. Next watch Runyan and Jenkins, they release to go block on the second level and actually have to chase after players who are sprinting the wrong way. Also hilarious. Next, we have Sammy Watkins, who acts like he's going to run a slant and is merely setting up to wall off anyone who actually knows where the ball is. Watkins doesn't do much other than get in the way, but that's really all that is required. Now watch the DB who is manned up on Watkins. Watson has already turned the corner and the DB is still going the wrong way and looking in the backfield trying to figure out where the hell the ball is. More hilarity! Finally, we have Watson himself. There is only one player with a chance to get to him, and it happens to be a guy who ran a 4.33 40 yard dash. If you stop the video at the 10 second mark, you'll see the DB (Blackwell) has a two-yard lead on Watson and a slight angle on him. He doesn't even get close to Watson. Another WOW moment from Watson. Purely elementary...

(Note: I wrote this last night, and this morning our own Dusty Evely came out with a 10-times more in-depth look at this play than I ever could. It's an 11 minute deep-dive and you can watch it here: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1OyKAVkyEleGb

 

 

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"Jersey Al" Bracco is the Editor-In-Chief, part owner and wearer of many hats for CheeseheadTV.com and PackersTalk.com. He is also a recovering Mason Crosby truther.  Follow Al on twitter at @JerseyalGBP

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7 points
 

Comments (12)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Grandfathered's picture

December 06, 2022 at 05:43 pm

I thought the OL passed blocked effectively. Maybe its the weak Bears DL, but Packersx looked to stay on their feet and in front better thisx game. The Watson touychdown handoff may have been well disguised, or the Bears were'nt paying attention but they were entirely fooled.

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PhantomII's picture

December 06, 2022 at 08:24 pm

Jenkins throws a 310 lb DL down just for the hell of it...LOL AL
I love Watson growing before our eyes...I knew he'd be special. Watkins did slow him down a tick.
Glad Wyatt got a few snaps....He needs a bunch more. I don't hear Clarks name mentioned much these days???

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Bitternotsour's picture

December 06, 2022 at 08:54 pm

Watching Sammy Watkins on that end around was sort of painful. His gait when he's winding his arm around looks like a guy whose legs are shot...

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Bitternotsour's picture

December 06, 2022 at 08:56 pm

Watson on the other hand, looks like he had another gear if he needed it. Damn.

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Since'61's picture

December 06, 2022 at 09:36 pm

Three great choices AL. Good to see Wyatt getting snaps and making a play. Hopefully more to come.

Excellent blocking on the second play. Perfect execution on the Watson play. The Bearshad no chance and Watson was gone before they knew what was happening to them. That play can be leveraged for the rest of season. Thanks, Since '61

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ThunderFromDownunder's picture

December 07, 2022 at 03:06 am

It was great to see Wyatt`s play , only a rookie showing up side . Will only get better in the coming years .

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

December 07, 2022 at 05:04 am

Nice play by Wyatt in the first video, but Quay getting off Whitehair's attempted block on the 2nd level was the other part of that run going nowhere.

#31, Jaylon Jones, also completely failed to keep contain on the end around and ends up never being near a packers player on this run. He just voluntarily removed himself. Jones himself ran a 4.41.

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T7Steve's picture

December 07, 2022 at 06:30 am

Love watching these Al. A picture speaks a thousand words.

The O line looked like the varsity playing the JVs. Let's hope it wasn't the JVs playing the freshmen.

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PackEyedOptimist's picture

December 07, 2022 at 09:31 am

I'd like to point out something else, that I haven't heard ANYONE mention:
On Watson's end-around, the "fake" to the right looks like even IT could have scored.
The set-up and blocking looked really good! Check it out!

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Mark1976's picture

December 07, 2022 at 10:04 am

This writer is trash. Saying things to appeal to a certain audience that is not true. If he has done any homework, he would know that Tevin Jenkins pff grade is a top five in the league among guards. I didn't want to write this, but I am so tired of reading garbage that biased people put out. I am a fan of all things football. If they are Packers players or Bears players, at least give them the credit that they deserve. Other people read this stuff that are not well versed and spew this puke out at other places. So for all of our sakes, make the water cooler talk a little more pleasant by giving them better information.

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JerseyAl's picture

December 07, 2022 at 10:29 am

Sorry Mister Bears fan. if you want to do homework, you have to do it all, not just what fits your argument. Jenkins is currently # 48 in pass blocking, which goes along with what I saw on tape and didn't want him as a draft pick for the Packers, especially as a tackle, where he failed miserably. In 2021 he was #141 overall, #82 in run blocking and # 109 in pass blocking. Pretty bad, wouldn't you say? Now if you came in here and said wait, he has gotten better this year settling in at guard, that would be fine and I couldn't disagree - I don't watch the Bears every week like you do. So now that we've settled that, you can crawl back into your den and back into hibernation. But leave room for us Packers fans, we may want to go into hiding too after this season.

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Mark1976's picture

December 07, 2022 at 10:59 pm

First of all....I did get it wrong. He isn't in the top 5, he
Ranks 8 among all NFL guards up to this point. That's really really good. I understand you were speaking at the beginning about the OT spot. But you did say "and he's not even that good as a guard". This is not an overrated player. This guy is playing really good football. Overall ranking is run block and pass block by the way. You might be good at making a cup of coffee but suck at drinking it. There are things everyone needs to work on.
Also, everyone is going to read your reply to me, but you said nothing about his 2021 run. Beginning with a tough injury in camp, then not starting your rookie season until week 13. It takes most rookies the first half of the season to settle in and start understanding it. He got 4 games. This is his real rookie season and he's killing it. Stop slamming on this kid and give him his credit. If that was your son, you'd be a proud papa.
Bear down

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