With the Denver Broncos on the schedule this week, the Green Bay Packers might be wise to dive into the Miami Dolphins game tape in an effort to provide their stagnant offense with a spark.
Teams stealing plays from others around the league is common practice in the NFL. On the Playcallers Podcast presented by The Athletic, it was noted that during the offseason, Matt LaFleur was looking at game tape of the Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers, and Kansas City Chiefs.
LaFleur then mentioned prior to the bye week that in addition to self-scouting and reevaluating the Packers’ first five games of the season, he would also see if there were some plays or concepts from other teams that Green Bay could steal and implement.
“I’m going to study some things around the league,” said LaFleur, “and see if there is something we can steal to try to find a way to generate, specifically on the offensive side of the ball, generate some momentum for our offense.
“I think we’ve just got to look back and take a good hard look at how opponents are seeing us and what teams are doing to us from a defensive perspective that is giving us some problems, and maybe we can get in front of some of these things so they don’t reoccur.”
One team in particular that I’m going to guess was on LaFleur’s radar was the Dolphins, given that a few weeks ago, they hung 70 points on the Denver defense.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel comes from the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree just as LaFleur does, so there is already an overlap in the two team’s systems, which would make the implementation of any plays that the Packers swiped relatively seamless. Although not to the same degree as the Dolphins, this is a Packers offense that does have speed and versatility at the skill positions.
“I don’t know if you guys have watched any football around the league,” said LaFleur on Wednesday, “but Miami is kind of doing that to everybody. If you’re not on top of your game, they can make you look silly. They just have way too much speed out there. That’s kind of what happened. There was a lot of big plays in that game. They got loose. When you’re watching the game early, it wasn’t like crazy, but it got out of hand, I think as the game went on.”
The Dolphins utilize pre-snap motion at the highest rate in the NFL, and it’s not particularly close. They leverage the quick passing game, with Tua Tagovailoa having the lowest average time to throw this season, allowing their playmakers Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and Raheem Mostert, to get the ball in space, and often near the line of scrimmage where they are able to pick up yards after the catch (YAC). Out of all running backs and receivers, these three rank in the top 27 in average YAC.
As the playcaller, McDaniel also does a really good job of marrying the running and passing games together. Miami ranks 10th in rush attempts per game, which allows them to set up play-action. Tagovailoa ranks fifth in play-action pass attempts, resulting in shot plays downfield for the Miami offense, where he currently sits in the top 10 in both intermediate and deep targets.
“If you watch a few teams that have had success,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich on Monday, “and just see if anything that they’re doing can help you out, as far as generating offense. And that’s one thing you’re always doing because you always have to try to stay ahead. It’s not typical that you wouldn’t do that on a normal week anyways.”
If we were to take Denver’s defensive performance against Miami out of the equation, this is still statistically one of the worst units in the NFL this season. To a degree, the pressure is on the Packers in this game to find some form of sustained success on offense this week. However, as LaFleur mentioned following Wednesday’s practice, he’s concerned about what the Packers need to do correctly, not the Broncos.
This season, the Packers can’t get out of their own way. The inconsistent execution of the routine details within each play call is contributing to an ineffective run game, an inconsistent passing game, and an offensive line that has taken some lumps in pass protection the last two weeks. The end result is an offense that has faced a lot of second and third-and-long situations, which gives the defense the advantage.
Studying how the Dolphins found success against Denver or even implementing some of the plays or concepts they utilized does not mean that we are going to see a completely brand-new version of the Packers’ offense on the field on Sunday. Any new plays added will be meant for specific situations, not to mention that, in general, the Packers should have a better idea of where and how to attack the Denver defense, all of which, hopefully, helps the offense build some momentum.
But for a unit that needs a jolt, the Dolphins and their 70-point explosion that took place a few weeks ago could provide Green Bay with the blueprint. At that point, it’s on the Packers to execute.
“Everybody keeps telling me that we are young,” said Jon Runyan, “but really, I don’t think that’s an excuse. I think we are slowly developing and finding our identity. This is a way different team that we have. This is my fourth year. The first three years were really veteran-led, and you could lean on those guys, but this year, we got a really young squad, a lot of playmakers. A different offense, too. Kind of get the ball out in space and see what these young guys can do with it, and that’s exciting.
“That’s kind of where football is going to now. I think looking at Miami and their offense, and I think our offense can and will have shades of that going forward. I like the direction it’s going, and just makes for an entertaining offense.”