Aaron Rodgers and the Packers beat the Kansas Chiefs on Monday Night Football pretty decisively. This game marked the fourth time in Rodgers’ career where he threw for five touchdowns good for fifth overall in five touchdown passes behind Drew Brees, Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady. Yesterday I took a look at Alex Smith’s streak-ending touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin, but in this breakdown we look closer at the five touchdowns Rodgers’ threw on Monday night.
Stats
Aaron Rodgers – 24/35 for 333 yards, 9.5 ypa, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 sack for 8 yards, 2 rushes for 16 yards
Play 1 – 1st and Goal at KC 8, (Q1-10:22) Ty Montgomery Pass From Aaron Rodgers for 8 Yrds M.Crosby extra point is GOOD, Center-B.Goode, Holder-T.Masthay.
Offense Formation: Shotgun Trips Right Far
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defense Formation: Cover 1
Rodgers in shotgun has Eddie Lacy in the backfield and trips to his right. The Chiefs defense is in a Cover 1 shell featuring strong safety #38 Ron Parker in the center of the field. Split out left is rookie wide receiver #88 Ty Montgomery who attempts to run a drag-route, but runs straight into cornerback #31 Marcus Cooper playing inside leverage.
Montgomery, keeping his eyes in the backfield, sees that linebackers #91 Tamba Hali and #50 Justin Houston are collapsing the edges of the pocket forcing A.Rodgers to step away from the pressure. Seeing this Montgomery turns his drag-route into a quick zig-route to the outside for the touchdown. There is ample contact between Peters and Montgomery, but it’s legal within five yards of the line of scrimmage.
Pay close attention to tight end #82 Richard Rodgers from the slot on the right side of the field. After the snap, Richard Rodgers takes his stem up to the goalline and there is a breakdown between safeties #29 Eric Berry and #39 Husain Abdullah. Berry assumes Abdullah will cover the tight end on the left half of the endzone, while he will cover the right half of the endzone. Instead Abdullah loses track of R.Rodgers thinking he cut to the right side of the endzone as opposed to behind him. This easily could have been the premise for a touchdown pass if the pass rush up front didn’t get to A.Rodgers in time.
Play 2 – 2nd and Goal at KC 3, (Q1-2:37) Randall Cobb Pass From Aaron Rodgers for 3 Yrds M.Crosby extra point is GOOD, Center-B.Goode, Holder-T.Masthay.
Offense Formation: Shotgun Slot Right Offset Back
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defense Formation: Goalline Cover 2
The Packers run a rub-concept on the right side of the field from an interesting dual back look out of the shotgun. Bringing tight end #81 Andrew Quarless into the backfield creates a potential run threat on 2nd and goal from the 3 yard line since the extra blocker could assist as a lead blocker or as a misdirection for Eddie Lacy.
After the snap Cobb runs a quick-flat route to the right side where Rodgers places the ball underneath the slant route of Ty Montgomery. This is the same exact play as in the Super Bowl with Malcolm Butler and Russell Wilson. So why does this play work when Wilson’s didn’t?
It has to do with rookie cornerback #22 Marcus Peters who doesn’t get good press coverage on wide receiver #88 Ty Montgomery after he explodes off of the snap. It’s that burst that is able to free the underneath route combined with Cobb’s strength after the catch to get into the endzone while being tackled. If Peters gets a good initial jam on Montgomery, the Chiefs could have stopped this touchdown.
Play 3 – 1st and 10 at KC 27, (Q2-1:02) James Jones Pass From Aaron Rodgers for 27 Yrds M.Crosby extra point is GOOD, Center-B.Goode, Holder-T.Masthay. Offsides on #91 Tamba Hali – Declined.
Offense Formation: Shotgun Trips Left Far
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defense Formation: Cover 1 Man
This is one of a few “free” plays the Packers received during Monday night. A.Rodgers draws linebacker #91 Tamba Hali offsides and then throws deep to James Jones who was perfectly covered by Marcus Coopers the whole route until he reached the endzone. As soon as James Jones realizes the ball is coming his direction on his outside release go-route, he quickly turns and shakes Cooper by the front corner of the endzone. Rodgers then places the ball perfectly on the backshoulder of Jones for the score.
First, Jon Gruden pointed this out multiple times on Monday Night Football, but this is an excellent decision by Rodgers to air it out. Worst case is the Packers take the five yard penalty and replay first down. Also, against Cover 1 man you are looking for your best matchup on a 1v1 route independent of any zone-beating concepts so the go-route gives you the best shot especially with a vertical receiver like James Jones. Second, watch Tamba Hali after he gets flagged for being offsides. He stops pursuing the quarterback all together and then waits for a second then resumes. If he pursues and gets too close to A.Rodgers the officials would then call the play dead as an “unabated path to the passer” call. This is exactly what Hali wants seeing as he already commits the penalty and this would end the play not giving A.Rodgers a free shot to the endzone. Third, Cooper actually blankets Jones with admittedly a good amount of contact down the field. It’s not until the very end when he slips trying to hold onto the veteran wide receiver.
Play 4 – 1st and Goal at KC 4, (Q3-7:22) Randall Cobb Pass From Aaron Rodgers for 4 Yrds M.Crosby extra point is GOOD, Center-B.Goode, Holder-T.Masthay.
Offense Formation: Shotgun Trips Left Near
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defense Formation: Cover 1
Just like in Play 2 this is another rub-concept except to the trips side of the Packers’ formation. After the snap Cobb runs a quick-flat route underneath his blockers for the touchdown.
Really the main reason why this play worked is not because of the blockers. It’s due to the terrible angle cornerback #22 Marcus Peters took to attack Cobb after the catch. If he played it more conservatively and didn’t start to vertically down the field underestimating Cobb’s speed this easily could have been stopped. Poor fundamental angle-pursuit by Peters and a great job by Cobb to once again fight his way into the endzone for the score.
Play 5 – 3rd and Goal at KC 4, (Q4-12:45) Randall Cobb Pass From Aaron Rodgers for 4 Yrds M.Crosby extra point is GOOD, Center-B.Goode, Holder-T.Masthay.
Offense Formation: Empty-Set Shotgun Trips Left Slot Right
Offensive Personnel:
Defense Formation: Cover 1
This is the same exact play as Play 2 with the only difference being the empty-set shotgun formation. Again Cobb takes the quick-flat route underneath wide receiver #83 Jeff Janis this time for the touchdown score. Cornerback #22 Marcus Peters once again needs to fight through the block and get to his man to stop the score.
I mentioned in the plays above, but one of the main ways to stop the rub-concept is to fight it with a good intial jam on the line of scrimmage. Beyond that you need a good angle and pursuit at the ball carrier to bring him down before he reaches the pylon. Overall, most of Rodgers touchdowns were quick flat throws to Randall Cobb who showed his strength to fight for a touchdown. The backshoulder pass touchdown was a great example of how good Rodgers is at placing the ball deep down the field.
Follow Samuel Gold on Twitter: @SamuelRGold.
