Tag: blitz

Packers success against the blitz starts pre-snap with Jordan Love and Josh Myers

The Packers have been excellent against the blitz, and it all starts with Jordan Love and Josh Myers pre-snap.

Opposing defenses have blitzed Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers offense a ton this year, especially over the second half of the season. However, the Packers have handled it well, and that all starts pre-snap with the communication upfront.

The Minnesota Vikings came into last Sunday’s game blitzing at the highest rate in football at 49 percent. But defensive coordinator Brian Flores would throw even more at Love, blitzing him on 76 percent of his dropbacks, according to PFF. Against these blitzes, Love was efficient and effective, completing 18-of-25 passes at 8.0 yards per attempt with two touchdowns.

“I liked our plan last week with picking up the pressures,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, “and I thought Jordan did a really nice job of recognizing things. There was a bunch of adjustments that had to get made, that did get made.

“The backs being on it because that plays into it just as much as anything is making sure the backs are on the same page and recognizing where they have to be. So it’s a testament to everybody. All of them did a great job.”

Love and the offense’s performance against Minnesota may have been their best this season against the blitz, but this unit has handled it well for several weeks now. Since Week 11, Love has been the most blitzed quarterback in football, yet out of 42 eligible quarterbacks, he ranks 13th in pressure rate. During that span, Love is completing 68.2 percent of his throws at 7.7 yards per attempt with six touchdowns to one interception.

A lot goes into navigating the blitz successfully and it all starts pre-snap with Josh Myers and him communicating to Love and the rest of the players involved with blocking what the initial protection is. Love then has the autonomy to make changes based on the movement from the defense.

“You have your initial protection,” said Stenavich. “Your initial rules and there’s any adjustments off the front look they will give you, or the safety rotation or whatever it is. So it starts up front with the O-Line making a call and making sure that gets communicated to Jordan and the running backs, or the tight ends, whoever is involved in the protection.

“From there, Jordan sees something and wants to change it, then he communicates it to the blocking people—backs, O-Line, anybody else, to get us right. A lot goes into it, especially when you’re in a loud environment, the play clock is running down, other factors that have to get communicated quickly. A large portion of our week is based on doing stuff like that.”

Myers has taken his lumps at time this season from a blocking standpoint, but his ability to identify what the defense is doing and get everyone aligned is something that Matt LaFleur and Stenavich have complemented him on at varoius points this season.

Love’s ability to use the hard count and the Packers’ usage of motion have helped force the defense to tip their hand, allowing Love to make the proper protection adjustments. Prior to the Kansas City game, quarterbacks coach Tom Clements was asked where he felt Love has improved the most and he mentioned his ability to make the correct protection adjustments, along with his decision-making, specifically when under pressure.

All of that was expertly on display against Minnesota and is another sign of the growth that Love and the offense as a whole has made. It’s not just that the Vikings blitz a lot, but they do a really good job of using different personnel groupings, alignments, and disguising where it is coming from. But it’s as if Love was always a step ahead, knowing where it was coming from, making the adjustments, and knowing where to go with the ball if pressure got through.

“O-line balled out,” said Love. “The pass protection was great all night. The run game was great all night. It’s a credit to Josh, he does a great job being able to communicate in a noisy environment. Get the running backs, get me all on the same page with what we are doing protection-wise. It’s not easy.

“Obviously the Vikings do a lot of different fronts, different personnel guys in there, so a lot of moving parts. Josh is able to figure out what they’re in, get us in a good call and obviously I make changes base on what I see. But that’s the biggest thing, just communicating in a noisy environment like that. They did a great job with that.”

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was perfect against blitz vs. Patriots

#Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes posted a perfect passer rating against the #Patriots when New England blitzed in Week 15.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is known for his ability to shred opposing defenses, especially when they blitz. Though he has struggled against the pass rush at times in 2023, Mahomes got back on track in Week 15, posting a perfect passer rating when the New England Patriots sent the blitz against him, according to Pro Football Focus.

While he did throw two interceptions in the matchup, Mahomes managed to do enough to secure Kansas City its ninth win of the season heading into a stretch of games where the Chiefs will be prohibitive favorites against opponents who have backup quarterbacks under center.

If he can build on his performance against New England in the coming weeks, Mahomes may be able to lift Kansas City to one of the AFC’s top playoff seeds in January.

Expect the reigning MVP to put on a show against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 16 to clinch the Chiefs a playoff berth on Christmas day.

Wink Martindale’s Giants to provide Packers another blitz-heavy test

The Packers have been beating the blitz frequently in recent weeks. Wink Martindale’s Giants will provide another big test.

Another week brings another blitz-heavy opponent that the Green Bay Packers offense is going to have to contend with in the passing game. This week, it’s the Wink Martindale-led New York Giants.

“He’s (defensive coordinator Wink Martindale) a guy that does a great job just putting people in position,” said coach Matt LaFleur. “He presents a lot of different challenges for an offense. I got a ton of respect for what he’s capable of doing and what he’s done over the course of his career. I think their defense, they present a lot of problems.

“You never feel easy going against a team that he’s coaching because you know that he can deploy a number of different blitzes and a number of different looks. I’m certain coming off a bye week that there’s going to be something different that they haven’t put on tape, that’s typically the case, and our guys are really going to have to trust their rules in terms of preparing for that.”

The Packers are coming off a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, who blitz at the sixth-highest rate in football. Two weeks prior, the Los Angeles Chargers blitzed Jordan Love on over 60 percent of his dropbacks, according to PFF. This week, the Giants will enter this game with the second-highest blitz rate, a calling card of Martindale’s.

Along with the rest of the offense, against the blitz is another area where Love and the Packers have been much improved. Throughout the season, opponents have blitzed this young Green Bay offense fairly often, but in recent weeks, they’ve been better equipped to handle it.

When facing the blitz against Kansas City, Love completed 12 of his 16 pass attempts for 97 yards and a touchdown. Against the Chargers, he was 16-for-24 for 156 yards.

“I think that throughout the course of the season,” added LaFleur, “we’ve encountered a ton of different challenges from different schemes that have prepared us for some of the things that could potentially come up. That’s just kind of how the year has worked out.

“I know we’ve put a lot of time and emphasis in the offseason in terms of preparing for some of these pressure situations. It’s served us well up to this point. Now we’ve got to go and do it again.”

Having any sort of chance against the blitz begins pre-snap with Love, and the offensive line, making the proper adjustments at the line of scrimmage based on how the defense is aligned or through any tells that motion or a hard count may draw out.

To help remove some of the bite from the Chiefs’ blitz-heavy approach, the Packers utilized motion on 61 percent of their snaps this past Sunday, forcing the defense to adjust late, giving Love some insight into what was potentially coming based on their movement.

At the snap, all 11 players must be on the same page. Protection responsibilities are paramount for the offensive line, as are the tight ends and running backs picking up any free rushers or chipping, along with the receivers knowing they may not have a lot of time to create separation.

Quarterbacks coach Tom Clements recently pointed out that one area where Love has improved the most has been in his decision-making, specifically knowing when to go to his check-down when the pressure is closing in, which of course, is vital against the blitz.

A lot of the growth that we’ve seen from the Packers offense in this regard is simply due to the experience they’ve gained and having a better idea of what’s coming, how the defense is going to attack, and how to counter an unscouted look.

“I think we’ve done a really good job at handling the different pressures we’ve been seeing,” said Love. “The O-line has done a terrific job at picking this stuff up, giving me enough time to make the plays downfield. But like I said, those are all the little things that it takes everybody doing their 1/11th. The O-line picking their protections up, the running back knowing where he needs to be in the protection, and obviously the routes coming open and me putting a good ball on the receiver.

“But I think the O-line has been doing a terrific job and an area that we’ve improved at is just picking up these pressures. The different looks we haven’t been able to practice for at times and haven’t seen, but they’ve been doing an awesome job at that.”

One additional challenge that the Packers will face this week against the Giants is that they are coming off their bye week, which means new looks will be thrown at the offense. When asked about this, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said that you try to gain some insight from past tendencies and have answers for that while also making sure not to put too much on each player’s plate. For the most part, players have to trust their fundamentals, execute on the play-call, and then adjust in-game as needed.

Unlike the Chiefs and Chargers games, Green Bay will be on the road in this one, making that all-important pre-snap communication more difficult with the opposing crowd noise.

If the Packers can give Love time, the opportunity to move the ball through the air against the Giants defense will be there. This is a unit that is allowing 6.7 yards per pass this season, which ranks 22nd. As always, having a strong run game to lean on can help mitigate an opponent’s ability to blitz, and this is an area New York has struggled in, giving up 4.8 yards per rush this season.

Conversely, pressure can disrupt the timing and the rhythm of the play and potentially lead to turnover opportunities, something the Giants have been excellent at generating as of late. In the last three games, New York has forced eight interceptions.

“We are going to be tested again,” said Stenavich. “Wink’s got his plethora of blitz packages. They do a great job just like Spags does. So it’s going to be a challenge. It’s going to be a road environment, so we will see how that atmosphere is.

“But we’ve faced a lot of teams like this this year. There’s been a bunch this season that will bring their all-out pressures. It’s been good for us to train the guys into that and it’s been really good for Jordan, just different answers he can get into, whether it’s protection or working different routes down the field. It’s good for just all of them to keep progressing, keep communicating, and seeing different things.”

Packers and Jordan Love stand tall against Chiefs pressure

The Packers passing game survived and often thrived against the blitz-heavy Chiefs defense.

Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers offense delivered an efficient performance against a very good and aggressive Kansas City defense, and a key element was how well Green Bay handled the pressure packages that the Chiefs threw at them.

The Chiefs entered Sunday’s game ranked second in pressure rate this season, and often were able to generate those hurries, hits, and sacks through blitzing. Kansas City blitzes at the sixth-highest rate in football, and as running backs coach Ben Sirmans said prior to the matchup, there isn’t anyone on that defense who is off limits when it comes to blitzing. The Chiefs will send pressure from anywhere and they do a good job of disguising it as well.

However, Love and the Packers offensive line did a good job of handling those blitzes for the most part. Kansas City blitzed from all parts of the field, and went all-out on a few occasions, including plays that resulted in a 33-yard pass to Romeo Doubs on fourth-and-one, along with the following touchdown pass to Christian Watson on that same drive.

“They brought some pressure,” said Matt LaFleur post game, “they brought some all outs (and) he got us in the right checks. I thought the guys up front did a pretty good job for the most part on the night. There were a couple instances where they were able to get some pressure, but even when they did, you know, that fourth down play to ‘Rome’ (Romeo Doubs) there was a little bit of pressure in his face, and what a catch by Romeo Doubs, what a play by him. That was certainly a big play in the game.”

Love finished the day completing 25 of his 36 passes at 7.4 yards per catch with three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 118.6. That success begins pre-snap, with Love and the offensive line diagnosing what the Chiefs are doing and making the correct protection adjustment calls. From there, it’s about all 11 being on the same page—a true group effort.

The offensive line, for the most part, was able to hold their own, along with help from tight ends Ben Sims and Tucker Kraft. Love was also much better equipped – mainly through experience – to handle this type of defense at this stage of the season compared to earlier on, as were the receivers, in terms of knowing where and when to be when facing pressure.

According to LaFleur and quarterbacks coach Tom Clements this past week, two areas where Love has shown the most growth this season is pocket awareness and feel, along with his decision-making, specifically knowing when to find his check down. Both of those elements are crucial when it comes to finding success against the blitz.

“I think me personally,” said Love after the game, “it’s just being able to see the stuff. I’ve got more reps, I’m more comfortable, understanding where I need to go with the ball. I think the O-line is doing a great job just being able to pick this stuff up. It’s not easy when they’re bringing all- outs, some of these blitzes, things like that, but they’ve been doing a great job giving me time and then receivers obviously, they’re having awareness of when they need to be open and how long I’ve got and then just going out there and making plays.

“It’s definitely something we as a team practice. We know some teams are going to bring it and we’ve got to be able to execute and go out there and make sure they don’t do it again.”

It also helped having a run game to lean on. AJ Dillon and Patrick Taylor averaged over 5.0 yards per rush as a duo, with Dillon shouldering the workload at 4.1 yards per carry. This helped keep the offense ahead of the sticks and out of predictable passing situations, while also helping to set up play-action opportunities as well. When a defense has to worry about both the run and the pass on a given play, as Jenkins said afterward, that slows down the pass rush.

The last time Love faced off against the Chiefs in 2021 it was on the road and his first career start on short week no less. LaFleur still shoulders the blame for how that game unfolded by not making enough changes to the game plan once they found out that Aaron Rodgers wouldn’t be playing. Although the Chiefs didn’t send nearly as many all-out pressures this time around, Sunday Night’s performance shows just how far Love has come.

“It’s way different,” said Jenkins about Love’s performance compared to two years ago. “I feel like they respect him more because they weren’t sending as many all-outs. But he was still directing what they were doing and throwing good balls. Making good reads, making good checks, when they’re blitzing. It’s night and day between the (first) time to this time. It’s just big ups to him, the process, and all the things he overcame with these past weeks.”

Saints’ pass protection must be on point against NFL’s most blitz-happy defense

The Saints’ pass protection must be on point against the NFL’s most blitz-happy defense. The Vikings send pressure at a historic pace:

We’ve seen real improvement from the New Orleans Saints offensive line in pass protection this season, but they face a steep challenge from the Minnesota Vikings this week. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is the most aggressive play caller in the NFL on passing downs.

Pro Football Reference research has found that his unit blitzes the quarterback on 51.3% of passing plays, well ahead of the second- (New York Giants at 43.1%) and third-ranked (Pittsburgh Steelers at 38%) squads. For comparison, New Orleans ranks twenty-third in blitz rate (23.4%).

And we’ve seen the Saints get overwhelmed up front before. Things have improved with Andrus Peat unexpectedly taking over at left tackle, and both Alvin Kamara (31 snaps in pass protection) and Jamaal Williams (18) have turned in solid reps in pass protection. They’ll all need to be on point against a Minnesota defense that isn’t afraid to send the house.

Derek Carr hasn’t responded well when asked to throw from a crowded pocket. Play-by-play charting at Pro Football Focus found that he has completed 67% of his pass attempts and thrown 7 touchdown passes against 2 interceptions when not blitzed this season; when teams do send extra pressure, he’s connected on 62.1% of his passes while throwing half as many touchdown passes and the same number of interceptions. Keeping Carr clean long enough to survey the field and find the open receiver is paramount.

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Packers better be prepared for blitzes from these 4 Vikings defenders

The Vikings are going to blitz the Packers on Sunday. No doubt about it. And the blitzes are likely coming from these four players.

Unless Brian Flores is preparing to throw a curveball, the Minnesota Vikings are going to blitz Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love on Sunday. It will be relentless. And the Packers better be ready to identify and block Flores’ four primary blitzers.

According to data from PFF, the Vikings have four linebackers or defensive backs who have blitzed at least 40 times over the team’s first seven games:

— LB Jordan Hicks: 73 blitzes
— S Josh Mettelus: 50
— LB Ivan Pace: 49
— S Harrison Smith: 40

How often are these four blitzing?

Hicks, the team’s primary off-ball linebacker, is blitzing on one out of every four passing snaps. Mettelus, a box safety, is blitzing on one out of every five. Smith has to play more coverage but he’s still blitzing at 15 percent.

The Packers must alert when Pace (No. 40) is on the field in a passing situation. The rookie is blitzing at almost 40 percent of the time, and he’s been very effective, producing nine pressures on 49 blitzes.

Overall, Hicks, Mettelus, Pace and Smith have combined for 31 total pressures, including nine quarterback hits.

Flores is blitzing on over 60 percent of passing snaps this season.

There are ways to beat the blitz. Last week, the 49ers put Christian McCaffrey in motion and threw a quick swing pass against an 8-man blitz, and McCaffrey made one player missed and raced for a touchdown. The Vikings had two unblocked players but it didn’t matter. Blitzing opens up opportunities in space if Love and the Packers can get the ball out quick.

The question for Sunday: Can the Packers anticipate the blitz looks and have answers ready pre and post snap? Jordan Love is inexperienced. The offensive line has struggled. The receivers and tight ends are young. The Packers offense will be stressed by Flores and his four top blitzers on Sunday.

Packers offense will need answers for blitz-heavy Vikings defense

The Packers are preparing to face the NFL’s most blitz-heavy defense in the Vikings on Sunday.

The Green Bay Packers’ struggling offensive line and offense in general will have to be prepared and have a game plan for the very blitz-heavy Minnesota Vikings’ defense this Sunday.

Under new defensive coordinator Brian Flores, the Vikings lead the NFL  with a blitz rate of 56.4 percent this season, according to Pro Football Reference. The next highest rate is New England at 42 percent of the time. A product of this aggressive play style is that Minnesota ranks fifth in quarterback hurry rate this season.

“They’re doing an outstanding job,” said Matt LaFleur on Wednesday. “Coach Flores, who’s got a very aggressive scheme, it seems like they’re starting to get their footing more and more the more they play.

“They’re not afraid. Sometimes, it’s going to look like a punt rush, and you’ve got to have a plan for that and go out there and execute that plan, but it does present a lot of challenges. Those guys are fast. They’re physical. So they’ve got a lot of pieces, and they do a good job schematically, and they want to apply pressure.”

One of the many issues that the Packers have been facing as of late is the play of their offensive line. Over their last three games, Jordan Love has been pressured on nearly 40 percent of his dropbacks, which is the ninth-highest rate in the NFL during that span. During the Denver game, the Broncos were too often able to create pressure with just a four-man rush, allowing them to have seven defenders in coverage.

When bltized this season, Love is completing 53.6 percent of his passes, which ranks 31st, at 6.8 yards per attempt – although he does have three touchdowns and no interceptions. If that pressure gets home, Love’s completion rate drops to just 42.9 percent and 5.1 yards per attempt with two touchdowns to three interceptions.

“We haven’t really faced a defense like Minnesota, the way that they run it,” said Love on Wednesday. “It’s something you’ve got to have a good plan for going into it. You’ve got to have a good week of practice. Understanding the plan. Understanding what they do—bring those blitzes. There’s certain looks. Just go out there on game day and execute. But really, it’s about getting the ball to our playmakers and letting them make plays. Just getting the ball out quick, it is very important.”

Utilizing the quick passing game is going to be a must for the Packers in this game in an effort to get the ball out of Love’s hands. This is going to require him and the receivers being on the same page, specifically, the receivers being in the right place at the right time, along with being able to win their routes fairly quickly–a few things that have not regularly happened this season.

As LaFleur said on Wednesday, “indecisive equals ineffective,” and that rings even more true when facing a blitz. A quarterback must know where they are going with the ball.

In addition to the quick passing game, running back screens and jet sweeps can be other ways to try to combat a blitz, although the Packers have been unsuccessful for the most part running those types of plays. Trying to get the ball outside in the run game on toss plays can be another tactic if the pressure is coming up the middle, but again, Green Bay has struggled there as well.

With this blitz-heavy approach, the Vikings are allowing only 3.6 yards per carry this season, the sixth fewest in the NFL. If the offensive line can handle the initial wave of defenders, the opportunity for a big play is there, with the running back having the opportunity to get to the second level where there will be fewer defenders than normal. However, even against four or five-man fronts, Green Bay has not been able to consistently create running lanes this season.

If the Love is taking sacks or the Packers are unable to pick up a handful of yards on first down consistently, it’s going to put them right back in the vicious cycle that they’ve been living in for the last month. Second and third and long situations have all but doomed Green Bay this season, and the potential impact that the Vikings can have blitzing the Packers only grows when constantly in those predictable passing downs.

“Their system is a lot different than your normal defense,” added Love. “It’s pretty much a unique system that they have.

”It’s different, but it’s all things we do. Like I said, when you’re playing a defense that does a lot of different things, you have to change a little bit of what you do. You want to stay in your system, but there’s just not normal looks we haven’t seen that we are seeing this week, and we’ve just got to have a plan for, and I think we do have a good plan for.”

Vikings blitzed Justin Herbert at historic rate in Week 3

You live by the blitz and you die by the blitz. For the Vikings, Justin Herbert took advantage of them

In the Minnesota Vikings’ 28-24 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, they did everything they could to get pressure on quarterback Justin Herbert. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.

The Vikings blitzed Herbert on 40 of his 50 dropbacks. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, that was the second-highest blitz rate in the NGS era, which dates back to 2018.

Dropping Herbert’s time to throw down to 2.26 seconds is objectively great, but he did a lot of damage when the Chargers picked up the blitzes.

The really impressive thing was Herbert’s CPOE (completion percentage over expected): +16.0%, which is an astounding and incredibly impressive number.

That’s what happens sometimes when you blitz a great quarterback. Just like the Vikings did last year by playing conservative zones, you are willing to live and die by how aggressive you are.

Despite all of this, the Vikings had a chance to win the game. Not all hope is lost for the Vikings, especially because a performance like Herbert’s won’t happen every week.

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Packers linebackers blitzing more during this year’s training camp

Blitzes from linebackers could be a bigger part of the Packers defensive scheme in 2023.

Throughout the training camp practices and in the preseason games, it appears that the Green Bay Packers are using linebacker blitzes more often than they did last year under Joe Barry.

In the team drill portion of practice, it hasn’t been uncommon to see the linebacker blitzing multiple times within a specific period. In the two preseason games, the Packers’ linebackers have totaled five pressures, with Jimmy Phillips leading the way with 11 pass rush snaps, according to PFF. Quay Walker has three such snaps, while Isaiah McDuffie, Tariq Carpenter, and Eric Wilson all have two.

Following Tueday’s practice, I asked Quay Walker if this group was, in fact, blitzing more or if it was just my perception.

“We’ve been switching it up and blitzing a whole lot,” said Walker. “I felt like we blitzed a whole lot last year, but this year, we’ve been blitzing way; a bit more than we did last year.”

In part, the Green Bay defense may be showing for blitz looks to test Jordan Love and the young offense. It’s likely that opposing defenses are going to throw a number of blitzes at this offense in an effort to confuse them and cause some chaos. But with that said, the fact that the Packers are also doing it somewhat regularly in the preseason shows that this might be a bigger part of the defensive system in 2023.

According to Pro Football Reference (PFR), the Packers ranked fifth in blitz rate last season. However, as film guru Ben Fennell points out, PFF and PFR define a blitz as a rush with five or more defenders. The Packers, however, use a lot of five-man fronts. So yes, they are rushing five, but no, they are not blitzing. Fennell added that in the Minnesota and Chicago games early on last season, the Packers didn’t blitz Kirk Cousins or Justin Fields one time.

So, if what the Packers have been doing with their linebackers in the preseason and training camp carries over into the regular season, it would be a change of pace for them and a welcomed sight as well. Far too often, this Green Bay defense, which has its share of playmakers, was way too reactive instead of proactive. The offense was the one doing the dictating, while it felt and looked like the defense was on its heels in many instances. Blitzing, if effective, can be one way to take back some of that control by dictating, attacking, and disrupting the play.

Given that a key element of training camp is installing the playbook and that we’ve seen the Packers’ linebackers blitzing throughout the last few weeks rather than just here and there, it suggests that blitzing from that position is going to be a bigger part of the defense this season. But ultimately, like anything else, we will have to see if that carries over into the regular season.

College Football Recruiting: Notre Dame blitzing Chicago and Indiana this weekend

Notre Dame is looking to try and keep their local talent home this weekend…

If you spent any time on Twitter on Friday morning and you happen to follow almost any of Notre Dame’s assistant coaches, you were made clearly aware of what their weekend plans entailed.  They’ll be traveling but not all that far as it appears their weekend targets will be of the local variety.

Running backs coach Deland McCullough, safeties coach Chris O’Leary, tight ends coach Gerad Parker, and special teams coordinator Brian Mason were just a few of Marcus Freeman’s assistants to tweet out their plans to go on a recruiting blitz of both Chicago and Indiana (see below).

Earlier this week, five-star defensive tackle [autotag]Justin Scott [/autotag]of Chicago named Notre Dame among his top-eight programs so we assume he’ll get a visit from the staff.

Check back here to see what develops from this in terms of visits, scholarship offers, and heck, it’s unlikely but maybe even a commitment if we’re lucky.