Matt LaFleur's game plan for 49ers suggests Packers can evolve as NFL adapts to his offense
No offensive system can survive long in the NFL without evolving. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur demonstrated he can adapt to the times during his team's 30-28 win over the 49ers on Sunday.
For the second time since the Green Bay Packers reported for training camp, head coach Matt LaFleur had to adjust to a new, difficult reality.
As the preseason ended and Week 1 approached, the Packers concluded that All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari could not realistically return from last year's torn ACL within the first games of the season. The decision resulted in the team placing Bakhtiari on the physically unable to perform list and rolling with do-everything offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins in his place. Just a few weeks later, Jenkins joined Bakhtiari on the sidelines after spraining his ankle during a Week 2 victory over the Detroit Lions. Few teams have two capable left tackles; virtually none possess three.
The plan to replace Jenkins remained unclear throughout the week leading up to the Packers' prime-time matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. LaFleur had to decide whether shifting Billy Turner to the left side and bringing Dennis Kelly off the bench would provide better protection than starting backup Yosh Nijman at left tackle and leaving the rest of the line untouched. Neither option offered an attractive solution to a major problem for the offense.
In the end, LaFleur went with Plan C: mitigate the protection issues altogether through play-calling.
The game plan LaFleur implemented at Levi's Stadium looked markedly different than any other from his time in Green Bay. Whereas LaFleur's offense typically leans on play-action, multiple pre-snap motions behind the line of scrimmage, and heavier personnel groupings, the Packers instead used empty formations more liberally and spammed run-pass options. That approach got the ball out of Aaron Rodgers' hands with uncommon quickness and greatly reduced how long the offensive line would have to hold Nick Bosa and the 49ers' pass rushers at bay.
Even the staple concepts LaFleur did call took on a different look against San Francisco. Green Bay often runs a passing play called "Heat," a deep curl that pulls down the safety and a deep post over the top to exploit the vacated space. In its traditional form, Heat uses play-action to draw in the linebackers and clear out space around the curl. However, LaFleur ran the play out of empty to trick the defense into expecting another quick throw. Despite the 49ers playing a quarters coverage that should have prevented an explosive gain, Rodgers connected with Marquez Valdes-Scantling for the longest completion of the night.
Throughout it all, LaFleur demonstrated what many coaches preach but fewer actually possess: adaptability. With attrition thinning the offensive line, the Packers could not run their typical offense against the 49ers and expect the usual result. But rather than stubbornly stick to his scheme, LaFleur reconfigured the offense in a fashion that consistently caught the San Francisco defense off guard.
This flexibility bodes well for the Packers in 2021 and beyond. The roster will undoubtedly face more injuries over the course of the current season, and the NFL at large has begun to find solutions to the system that LaFleur and others off the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree have popularized over the last decade. As the league learns to counter those offensive principles, the Packers will need to evolve into something different in order to survive.
That future offense won't necessarily look like the one that scored 30 points against the 49ers on Sunday, but it will need some new staple concepts and tactics to fool defenses. That necessity will increase tenfold when the Packers no longer have a three-time MVP starting under center.
Even at age 37, Rodgers remains a force of nature, as the game-winning drive he directed against the 49ers attests. With just 37 seconds and no timeouts with which to work, the future Hall of Famer took the Packers down the field on two long completions, including a god-tier throw just out of reach of All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner. Few quarterbacks in NFL history have possessed such an absurd combination of arm strength and precision passing.
But while Rodgers can put the team on his shoulders, LaFleur's offense ensures that the quarterback doesn't have to do so constantly by providing him with easy completions to extend drives and well-timed shots down the field. That approach becomes plainly evident in Rodgers' numbers, which have experienced dramatic improvements during his first two seasons with LaFleur compared to his final two under previous head coach Mike McCarthy.
The time will come — perhaps as soon as next season — when the Packers will no longer have Rodgers to pull them out of the skid. Whether 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love or another quarterback replaces him, LaFleur will need to reconceptualize the offense to emphasize that player's strengths and hide his weaknesses.
More than ever before, the Packers have reason to believe LaFleur is up to the challenge.
-- Jason B. Hirschhorn is an award-winning sports journalist and Pro Football Writers of America member. Follow him on Twitter: @by_JBH
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