Welcome back to my offseason series where we revisit each game from the 2019 season and pick out a play or two to talk about! I'm having a blast. Today we find ourselves looking at Week 4: the Packers first loss of the season. I've said it before and I'll say it again: even in a loss, there is always something interesting to look at.

Today we'll be looking at a couple of catches by Geronimo Allison on the last Packers drive of the 1st half. Let's set the stage.

After a Mason Crosby field goal with 8:28 left in the 2nd quarter, the Eagles scored 14 unanswered points. In a matter of 7 minutes, the Packers went from leading 13-7 to trailing 21-13. Now they had the ball back in their hands with 0:59 left in the 2nd quarter on their own 30 yard line and no timeouts. 

The drive started out promising enough with a quick out to Davante Adams on the sideline for 11 yards. They picked up a 1st down on an Eagles penalty two plays later, but followed that up with a 4 yard scramble from Aaron Rodgers and an incomplete pass to Aaron Jones. With 0:31 remaining in the 1st half, the Packers faced 3rd & 6 at the 50 yard line. That is where we pick up today.

The Packers are running go routes on the outside while Jimmy Graham [80] blocks out to start the play, then angles back to the middle of the field. They're looking to take a shot down the field, while using Graham as a potential checkdown option in the middle. The Packers don't have any timeouts so a throw to the middle of the field would kill the clock, but that is a potential option for two reasons:

1. The defense would likely be looking to guard against a sideline route, so they could be expected to fan out away from the middle of the field.
2. With the go routes, the defense could be dropping deep to take away anything down the field.

In either of those cases, the middle of the field could be relatively vacated, making it realistic to get the ball to Graham on the angle route and either be able to spike the ball after a tackle or for Graham to be able to have enough running room to get out of bounds.

As it so happens, two linebackers stay home, taking that option away. Just as well.

So we've got the go routes. Geronimo Allison [81] is in the slot on the right. Initially the coverage downfield is really good, but there's a small opening as Aaron Rodgers [12] starts to break the pocket. The deep defender on Allison is playing a deep zone. He steps up to pass off responsibility to the safety. At that moment, the zone defender is stepping up while the safety in that zone is shadowing Davante Adams [17] up the sideline and over the top of Allison. 

Rodgers catches the Eagles in the rotation and throws a ball high for Allison:

Allison goes up, snags the ball and somehow holds onto it while being sandwiched between two large men. Terrific catch by Allison. The Packers pick up 31 yards and a first down. They get to the line quickly and spike the ball, stopping the clock at 0:14.

On the next play, Rodgers is looking to catch the Eagles with 12 men on the field. They snap it quickly and send 4 receivers on go routes, with Allison in the slot to the right. The Eagles are in a two-high safety look, and the safeties fan out wide. On the three receiver side, the safety is looking at Adams on the perimeter. A linebacker carries Graham up the middle of the field and the defender over Allison drops into a deep zone.

Once Allison clears the zone defender over him, there's no one deep in that zone.

Rodgers appears to be looking at Adams initially, but he comes back to Allison when he sees the safety shading over Adams. He steps up-and-out and hits Allison for a touchdown with 0:09 remaining in the 1st half. Instead of heading into the locker room down 21-13, the Packers went in only down 21-20.

Since this game was a loss, sequences like this have a tendency to be forgotten. But this was a tremendous pair of plays from both Rodgers and Allison.

Album listened to: Catherine Wheel - Chrome