Davante Adams vs. the Cowboys (11 targets, 7 catches, 117 yards, 1 TD)

Davante Adams may have had a quiet rookie regular season, but he made a statement in his first career playoff game against the Cowboys. Lost in the headlines among a plethora of excellent rookie WRs this year, Adams only had one game above 100 yards in the regular season. In his game against the Cowboys, however, he seemed to be Rodgers’ go-to target, as he was thrown at 11 times. He caught 7 of those and turned them into 117 yards and a TD, with 79 of his receiving yards coming after the catch.

In this game, Adams showed not only the ability to make contested catches but also the ability to make things happen after the catch with great agility. On the majority of the catches that are about to be covered Adams put some sort of move on a defender to get himself some space. In my opinion, he’s shown enough in his first year as a receiver for me to believe that he’s going to be an effective weapon for the Packers in an offense that is already loaded with weapons. So, without further ado, lets get down to breaking down his targets in the game.

2-4-DAL 4 (Q1, 8:38) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass incomplete short left to D.Adams.

Near the goal line, this is Adam’s first “target” of the day, and it’s really a throwaway by Rodgers. I’m not sure if there’s a miscommunication between Rodgers and Adams on the play, but whatever they were running clearly didn’t work. My guess from watching this is that Adams is intended to run a slant on the play, but since Sterling Moore is in perfect position to defend the slant, nothing is there and Rodgers just throws the ball away.

2-7-DAL 27 (Q2, 11:27) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass incomplete deep middle to D.Adams.

On this play, Adams (top of the screen) is running a go route. The TE and slot WR are running crossing routes over the middle, and Nelson is running a comeback at the bottom of the screen. Here’s a .gif:

The Cowboys’ front four do a good job of rushing the passer, and two players get pressure on Rodgers. While he has Nelson open at the bottom of the screen, the pressure forces Rodgers to move in the pocket and he decides to throw the ball away again, in the direction of Adams.

2-9-GB 21 (Q2, 7:46) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short left to D.Adams pushed ob at GB 22 for 1 yard (O.Scandrick).

This is a screen play to Adams, but it doesn’t work. In my opinion, it’s not particularly well thought out by the Packers. Cobb, the slot WR, slants towards the middle of the field off the snap. This leaves Orlando Scandrick unblocked, and Adams now has to try to avoid both Scandrick and Moore. This is a death sentence for the play, and Adams fights, but he’s only able to gain a yard.

1-10-DAL 27 (Q2, :08) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short right to D.Adams to DAL 22 for 5 yards (B.Carter).

This is an interesting concept by the Packers. While the play is technically a quick slant, it actually functions like a screen because Cobb and Nelson block immediately on the play.

This play showcases some of Adams’ elusiveness as a runner, as he avoids the charging Scandrick (Cobb’s block also helped, and Scandrick likely would have made the tackle had he not been blocked). Making Scandrick miss allows Adams to pick up extra yardage on the play, and it turns into a respectable gain on first down.

2-6-DAL 12 (Q3, 9:03) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short right to D.Adams to DAL 7 for 5 yards (S.Moore).

The main design of this play is to get Cobb or Adams open over crossing the middle of the field. The both run in cuts, with Adams trailing behind Cobb. This forces LB Anthony Hitchens to split the gap between the two players and end up in no man’s land when the pass is thrown.

The thing that I like from Adams here is that he makes a very good cut and gets a step on Sterling Moore. What I don’t like, however, is that Adams doesn’t reach the first down marker. He fights for it, and with Hitchens hitting him quickly he doesn’t have a great chance, but if he had run a route past the sticks it would have been a first down. As a side note, this is the play where a brawl broke out afterward and TJ Lang got an unnecessary roughness penalty. So, it ended up as a 3rd and 16 instead of a 3rd and 1. The Packers were forced to kick a field goal. Had this been a first down, they may have been able to overcome the penalty and score a TD.

2-3-GB 17 (Q3, 3:32) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass incomplete deep right to D.Adams [A.Hitchens].

Adams is at the top of the screen, running a deep post on this play.

Rodgers has a fair amount of time in the pocket, but eventually it breaks down and he needs to scramble outside of it. At this point, Adams has already finished his route to no success, and what I like about this play is when he sees Rodgers leave the pocket he follows in the same direction:

While the ball falls incomplete (in fact it was almost intercepted by the deep safety) because Rodgers led Adams too far, it’s still nice to see the young WR improvise and be on the same page as his QB.

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3-3-GB 17 (Q3, 3:21) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short left to D.Adams pushed ob at GB 33 for 16 yards (J.Heath).

On third and 3, the point of this route for the Packers is to get past the sticks for a first down. This is clear because all three receivers run routes that go just past the marker. In fact, this play design is exactly the same as play five. The difference is now Adams is running a curl at the top of the screen instead of the dig at the bottom.

The route Adams runs is very good. He does a very good job of selling a vertical route, and gets Moore to turn his hips upfield before he plants his foot and turns to catch the slant. His work after the catch is even better. He stiff arms more and get 12 yards after the catch, turning a simple 4 yard gain into a nice 16 yard one.

2-10-DAL 41 (Q3, 1:55) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass incomplete short middle to D.Adams.

The Packers are clearly looking to exploit the middle of the field on this play. Adams is in the middle of the three receivers at the bottom of the screen and he’s running a quick slant.

Adams actually does a very good job on this play, Rodgers just throws the pass a bit in front of him. Moore is in press coverage and Adams runs a good route to beat him. Notice how Adams takes a step towards the outside to get Moore going in that direction before he turns back to the middle and runs the slant. Some receivers can get completely taken out by a DB jamming them at the line of scrimmage, but Adams shows here that he has the ability to avoid the press.

3-15-DAL 46 (Q3, 1:52) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass deep middle to D.Adams for 46 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

The Packers are looking to spread the Cowboys out and have a receiver win a one-on-one matchup on this play. The Cowboys are playing a Cover 2 with man coverage underneath, or “2 Man Under.” Adams is in the middle on the bottom part of the screen, running a dig route.

The first thing I want to talk about is that, once again, Adams beats press coverage from Moore. Once again, he takes a short jab to the outside:

Before going back inside and sprinting upfield:

In the picture above, Adams has already clearly won. Moore still has to turn around to try and track him. This was an easy decision for Rodgers and a relatively simple catch (for the NFL, that is). After Adams catches the ball, he shows what makes him special as a receiver: his work after the catch.

In the image above, we can see that he has Cowboys’ safety JJ Wilcox in a two-way-go. And, like he did to Moore to avoid the press, Adams baits Wilcox into thinking he’s going the other direction. He stutter steps, and Wilcox floats to the left. Adams then cuts to the right and outraces everyone else to the pylon. Really, this is a mistake by Wilcox, because he has help in the other direction so he should really come down to Adams’ right and drive him into the other DBs. Still, Adams did a great job of setting up Wilcox for failure.

2-8-GB 35 (Q4, 12:21) (No Huddle, Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short left to D.Adams pushed ob at DAL 47 for 18 yards (S.Moore).

What the Packers are hoping here is that they’ll get one of the safties to bite on an underneath route so Rodgers can go deep. As such, there are three curls underneath. Adams is running the curl at the bottom of the screen.

The Packers actually get what they want. When Rodgers pump fakes, the safety comes down and Andrew QUarless is WIDE open deep at the top of the screen. I’m honestly not sure why Rodgers didn’t go there; he probably didn’t see him. Anyway, Rodgers decides to go to Adams, who has sat down waiting for the curl.

This is yet another play where Adams shows his prowess after the catch. When he catches the ball, Orlando Scandrick is closing like a missile and he’s still in the air. Somehow, he lands on his feet and immediately spins, breaking the tackle. He then scampers upfield and gains about 10 extra yards than he should have.

3-3-GB 40 (Q4, 2:36) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short left to D.Adams to DAL 34 for 26 yards (J.Heath).

This is an incredibly important third down, and Rodgers chooses to go to Adams, who is running the curl at the bottom of the screen and is once again being covered by Moore.

On probably the most important offensive play of the game for the Packers, Rodgers trusts his rookie WR to beat press coverage and then go up and make a contested catch. Unlike before, this time Adams goes to the outside to beat the press, but he still beats it. Getting a relatively clean start off of the line of scrimmage is incredibly important because this is a timing route, and Adams needs to be at the spot where Rodgers throws the ball in time to catch it. You can tell this because Rodgers throws the ball before Adams even turns around. As soon as Adams turns on the curl, he has to go and catch the ball. This is actually helpful for the WR because it means the DB can’t respond in time to break up the pass. Moore is still on Adams almost immediately, but Adams just throws him to the ground like a rag doll, which is an impressive display of strength. Just a first down would have ended the game, but what I like about this game is that Adams sent the Cowboys home with emphasis of a great physical play by the WR.

As part of a great class of rookie WRs, Davante Adams may not have stood out from the pack during the regular season, but he certainly made an impact in his first career playoff game. While relatively quiet in the first half, he turned it up towards the end of the 3rd Quarter, scoring a huge TD and eventually making the play that basically sealed the game for the Packers.