I'm not going to mince words here: that was ugly. It's not about the loss - there's not much in this life I care about less than preseason win/loss record - but it's about the evaluation of some of the individual pieces. The talk of the first preseason game was the play of Ty Summers. There were reasons to be excited, but there were also some reasons for concern. All those reasons for concern showed up this week, with missed tackles all over the field. It wasn't just Summers: the entire defense was missing tackles left and right.

But there were reasons to be encouraged, too. Today we're going to look at a handful of passing concepts the Packers ran this past week. Like I said last week, the common refrain about preseason is that all the concepts are "vanilla," but that doesn't mean there isn't still some fun stuff to look at.

Play 1

Okay, so I said "Play 1" but then sprung two plays on you. Because I'm tricksy. Both of these play off the same idea, so I decided to group them together. They feature the same kind of look: three in-cutting routes from the same side. In both cases, the quarterback is reading the defender over the tightest player to the line. If he stays with the inside receiver, all the slot receiver needs to do is get inside position on his defender and he'll have open field to work with. In both cases, that's exactly what happens. Key on the defender. Once he takes a step, look to the slot man and let the ball fly when the last foot of the drop hits.

Play 2

This particular play doesn't work even a little bit, but that doesn't mean the idea is bad. In fact, this look is something we are likely to see a lot of this upcoming season. Matt LaFleur loves him some play action rollout.

I'm a big fan of running a receiver to the flat, then having someone starting the play as a down-blocker off the line leak out behind him. What I like about this particular look is that the down-blocker is Darrius Shepherd [10]. Yes, he's small for a blocker, and yes, he gets blown up. But if you keep an eye on him, you'll see him with a bit of a seam to work with. He ends up behind Chris Board [49] and ahead of Michael Pierce [97]. There's not a ton of room, but there is a bit of a seam, provided Tim Boyle [8] has the time and space to hit that. Alas, Boyle doesn't have time or space.

Play 3

You know what I will always love? A nice hot route. The #Packers are running play action, which helps even more. Play action pulls up the linebackers, meaning there is absolutely nobody behind the blitzing DB. Kizer sees the blitz immediately & Kumerow makes himself a target. pic.twitter.com/27mMZC6ksJ

— Dusty (@DustyEvely) August 17, 2019

Just a hot route behind play action. Quick. Simple. Beautiful.

This also has the look of an RPO (Run/Pass Option). If you watch the offensive line, you'll see them firing up and looking for a linebacker to hit. I like that even more! Over the past couple seasons, RPOs in Green Bay have primarily been horizontal throws. This is designed to push vertically down the field, which is something I've been begging to see for a while.

Play 4

I know slant/flat has become something of a dirty word in Green Bay under Mike McCarthy, but it can be an effective combo. And LaFleur makes use of it as well, so prepare yourself for a steady dose.

What I love about this one is the spacing. You generally don't see the routes run that close together. The way this is done, there's the possibility of a natural rub occurring. Now, a lot of that probably has to do with Equanimeous St. Brown [19] not able to get a clean release off the line, but that's neither here nor there. I kind of like this tight mesh point. Just because it may have been an accident doesn't mean it can't be useful.

Play 5

Robert Tonyan [85] shifts before the snap. Nothing major, but the defense doesn't react, telling Boyle that the Ravens are likely in zone. The coverage over Jake Kumerow [16] - tight coverage shading inside and another defender 10 yards off - and the single-high safety in the middle tells him that this is likely Cover 3, meaning the deep defender over Kumerow is likely bailing to play the deep zone. If that's the case, he won't be in a position to jump the slant to Kumerow.

Now we've got the middle of the offense. Play action helps draw the linebackers up. Tonyan has an interesting release, shuffling inside looking to block before releasing through the middle. A defender sticks with him, meaning that route is a bust, but it also helps to create a ton of room for Kumerow in the middle. 

Nicely drawn up and executed.

Play 6

I like this one. It feels like it's designed to spring Shepherd in the middle. We've got one route pushing downfield to occupy the safety, while the others spread out and attack the edges. Shepherd runs a crosser, splitting all that action. He breaks the same time the out route cuts. Timing is everything here. The out route prevents that defender from falling underneath the route of Shepherd. The ball is out when both of them hit their breaks, not giving the out defender a chance to recover. Nice timing and some good routes. Shepherd couldn't haul it in, but the play itself is good.

Play 7

Last but not least, we've got this quick-hitter to Allen Lazard [13] on the right side. Like the last play, we've got a deep-pushing route to occupy the safety. We also have some play action, which is important. The play action draws up the linebackers in the middle, which provides room underneath. Shepherd pushing up the field takes the safety in the middle away from the action. Boyle completes the play action, looks up and finds Lazard with plenty of room to operate. Pitch and catch, man.

Just like the players, I am also trying out some things this preaseason. I'm making the leap from gifs to video, which I'm pretty hyped about. However, trying out new things also means changing how I've been doing things. In that case, that means something as simple as how I show the videos in these articles. Last week I embedded tweets of the plays. This week I'm embedding YouTube videos. Do you have a preference? I'm open to feedback, as I'm hoping to get this ironed out by the time the season starts.

Albums listened to: Young Thug - So Much Fun; Why? - AOKOHIO; Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold; Fionn Regan - Cala; Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising