Packers Vs Bills - 3 Plays That Make You Go Hmmm
Jersey Al picks out three thought-provoking plays from the Packers' preseason game against the Bills
By JerseyAl
After re-watching the Packers game, here are three plays that made me go hmmm, for various reasons.
Packers OL and All Pro Savvy
You get a two-fer on this play. First, lets look at the Packers rookie offensive linemen on this play. Starting center Josh Meyers gets a rude introduction to the trenches from Ed Oliver. Oliver smashes Myers backwards and to the ground. Meyers takes out Bronsson Kaufusi, who is trying to make his way down the LOS (probably to run that TE flat route the Packers love so much). Meanwhile Royce Newman assess the situation and quickly slides over from his RG position to pick up Oliver. Great awareness from Royce there. There is ZERO doubt in my mind he is the starting RG for the Packers.
As for the All-Pro savvy, check out Tre'davious White on the Love INT. He's all over MalikTaylor, but watch what he does as he sees Micah Hyde coming over, He gently (and sneakily) pulls Taylor away from the ball with a tug on Taylor's left arm and a turn on Taylor's right shoulder. Both are quick and not prolonged moves, but more than enough to keep Taylor's momentum going away from the ball. That is All-Pro savvy.
Yosh on the Move
This is something I've mentioned before, but watching Nijman closely this preseason, he has pleasantly surprised me with his ability to get to the second level and be very effective there, Lining up at right tackle here, his play is a good example of what I've noticed from Yosh.
Dillon - Eyes Wide Open?
Since the Packers failed to score near the goal line on their first drive, everyone has been knocking Sternberger for missing the block on 3rd down and possibly Love for not completing the fourth down pass. However, neither of those two plays should have even happened. On second down, Dillon takes a handoff and doesn't see the clear and easy path to the end zone to his right. As you watch the blocking develop, you see Newman move his player to the right and Myers move his player to the left. The result is a diagonal running lane between those two players leading right to the end zone. Unfortunately, Dillon doesn't see it and instead runs right into Myers, who is now battling a wall of three Bills players. Just a slight shift to the right and Dillon scores with ease. I hope this isn't an indication that Dillon will always default to trying to power his way through trouble and not look for the easy escape. Note that the end zone view of this play on the broadcast gave a much better look at what I'm describing, but because the NFL web site was apparently written by some kid in his basement who can't figure out how to fix things when they break, I can't show it to you right now.
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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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Comments (14)
Since'61
August 30, 2021 at 10:25 pm
Al seeing Myers get destroyed on the first of the 3 plays is a bit concerning. Even against a player at Oliver's level he can't get thrown aside like that. Hopefully the OL coaches work with him to prevent that from reoccurring. Love made a poor decision. Should have thrown the ball away. Rookie mistake, he will learn.
Excellent play by Nijman. Hopefully he can do it during the regular season when he is in the game.
AJ Dillon is still learning. He had only 43 carries last season. Need to coach him up on running to daylight.
Thanks, Since '61
Thegreatreynoldo
August 31, 2021 at 03:16 am
Some guys are born with vision and some just don't have it. Some can improve their vision: Jamaal Williams got better each season.
Coldworld
August 31, 2021 at 08:19 am
Sometimes it’s patience to let the opportunity develop and the confidence to exploit it when it does. That usually required the game to “slow down” and stop overthinking it. I don’t know how much one can develop instinct, if at all, but you can learn to stop getting in the way of it if you do have it.
Johnblood27
August 31, 2021 at 08:42 am
Dillon has had plenty of reps running the football in his playing career. He didn't start in the NFL.
Speed and schemes are a step up from his previous competition level, but he certainly knows how to run to daylight and has pretty good instincts for running the ball.
Check out his physical measurables and college career statistics and compare them to... ready for this? ...Earl Campbell!
Almost identical! I was absolutely amazed at the match.
Give Dillon a break, nobody hits the exact correct hole every time (think prom night) He ran into some blockers here, that doesn't mean he lacks vision, he had a less than perfect play in an exhibition game. Think about the TD run vs the Titans whenever you get shaky about his abilities.
JerseyAl
August 31, 2021 at 10:41 am
I'm not overreacting, just pointing out what I've seen for most of his preseason snaps. As TGR pointed out, we were saying the same thing about Jamal Williams early on and he improved immensely in finding holes.
Johnblood27
September 01, 2021 at 06:43 am
I am looking forward to seeing AJ improve on a weekly basis as we mow through the opposition in 2021.
Coldworld
August 30, 2021 at 10:34 pm
Nijman is a freakish athlete among freak athletes. Men his size shouldn’t be able to do what he can. The fact that he’s learned technique to the extent he’s showing when the knock on him was that he couldn’t be trained means we have a heck of a steal in future. This was a player who got through college by just raw natural physical gifts.
Bure9620
August 31, 2021 at 01:41 am
There will be a drop off at center. Myers will have growing pains.. Lindsley is the best center in the league and was likely the most under appreciated player on the team.
mrtundra
August 31, 2021 at 08:48 am
Watch MLF have Jenkins move to Center, if Myers is having trouble. Lucas Patrick also can play Center.
croatpackfan
August 31, 2021 at 02:56 am
Like this overviews.
I'm glad you concentrate on OL and help us to see small things many of us are missing when watching games. One's mistake helped us to se another excellent play (Meyer and Newman). I agree with you that Packers will be OK with Newman at the RG. About Meyers, it is learning mistake that happens with young players (something like Love's INT). I suppose he was to confident in himself because he was doing OK all former snaps and than he was surprised by Oliver strength and action. Of course that is huge mistake and he need to be prepared every snap for max pressure. He can not allow himself to relax any moment during the game. Almost same type of mistake as Jordan Love's (overconfidence issue).
It looks like we have good option (or two) at RT, so I believe Kelly will be dismissed or placed on IR.
Thanks again for deep diving into the some situations.
Thegreatreynoldo
August 31, 2021 at 04:35 am
The Texans traded Shaq Lawson to the Jets for a 6th round pick. The Jets will have to pay Lawson (signed to replace Carl Lawson who was hurt during the scrimmage with the Packers) a measly $990K and he'll count as $1.49M on the cap since he has likely to be earned incentives of $500K.
4 sacks, 18 QB hits in 572 snaps. He doesn't drop into coverage so far in his career but he can rush the passer. For context, ZaDarius Smith had 23 QB hits, and Gary and Preston Smith each had 11 in 2020. In 2019, Preston had 23 QB hits, Gary had 3, and Z had 37.
The Texans paid Lawson $7.11M to attend training camp. They converted base to signing bonus, added void years, and then traded the guy without getting a single snap out of him. Is Bill O'Brien still running things? It would have taken GB's 5th rounder in 2022. Lawson would be under contract for $9M in 2022, but none of it is guaranteed.
Gute: why not?
flackcatcher
August 31, 2021 at 01:53 pm
The Texan's fire sale continues. Maybe Gute made a play, but we don't know what Houston would have demanded. More likely fairly high draft choices, something the Packers could not afford to lose with what's coming after this season. (No money with how high they are over the Cap)
Thegreatreynoldo
August 31, 2021 at 09:33 pm
It is a done deal now: Houston traded Lawson for a 6th round pick from the Jets. They did not get any high picks.
So a 5th from GB should be enough. Houston and the Jets are in the AFC and GB is a NFC team. Packers don't play Houston this year so that's not an issue. Cost to GB would have been $990K.
flackcatcher
August 31, 2021 at 02:11 pm
Excellent post Al. We rarely point out the game within the game. Veteran secondary move, game officials almost never call that kind of hand fighting contact. There is a real art to that. (Something Josh Jackson couldn't learn here) Dillon needs to slow own with his head up. It will come with reps with this O-line. Seeing Nijman setting his base on pass pro and having confidence in his foot work is a huge leap even over the last preseason game. Of course the real test was in the fourth quarter when fatigue sets in. His pad level was Not Too High. We saw a young player take the 'leap' before our eyes. Neat. Thanks, Al.