Tag: motion

Saints’ usage of play action, motion skyrockets in Klint Kubiak’s first game

Derek Carr used play action significantly more in his first game under Klint Kubiak than he did in 2023. The results speak for themselves:


The New Orleans Saints hired Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator this offseason and changed schemes for the first time since Sean Payton was hired in 2006. The change in system directly impacts Derek Carr.

Kubiak’s system is most known for their run game concepts. We saw Alvin Kamara excel in Week 1 and easily could have toppled 100 yards rushing if he played the entire game.

Another new wrinkle is the emphasis on play action and pre-snap motion. This works hand in hand with the run game, and its effectiveness was on full display against the Panthers. Foster Moreau’s touchdown pass came off of play action. That’s a tool Carr has used well throughout his career but which Pete Carmichael was reluctant to embrace as the play caller last season.

In totality, Carr completed seven of his nine pass attempts after a play action fake for 58 yards. Most importantly, it resulted in four first downs and a touchdown. In Week 1, play action was used on 40% of Derek Carr’s dropbacks. That’s a huge jump from last year in which was slightly below 15%. It’s a prime example of how things are schematically different under Kubiak. Another one? Their use of pre-snap motion and shifts jumped by more than 38%. It’s a new day in New Orleans, and these changes might be enough to help them get back to the playoffs.

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Pete Carmichael gave the people what they wanted in Saints’ offensive eruption

Play action, pre-snap motion, and red zone creativity. Pete Carmichael gave the people what they wanted in the Saints’ offensive eruption:

Play action, pre-snap motion, and red zone creativity. Pete Carmichael gave the people what they wanted in the New Orleans Saints’ Week 5 offensive eruption, putting the New England Patriots away handily 34-0. Fans and analysts covering the team saw everything they had asked for from Carmichael’s offense on the afternoon.

The Saints ramped up the use of pre-snap motion in Week 5, going from ranking last to a rate that would place well inside the league’s upper half. That added hesitation as the defense was forced to account for a player in motion paid off in a big way to give the offense an advantage they desperately needed.

And play action picked up in the passing game, too; Derek Carr was able to use his forever-underrated athleticism to throw on the move and link up with Michael Thomas on a couple of big gains. Carr has the wheels to make plays as a runner and force defenses to respect him as more of a run threat. Getting him out of the pocket and in space has been an inefficiency for this offense that they’re now course-correcting.

We’d be remiss to not mention Carmichael’s gutsiest play call of the day: a shovel pass to tight end Foster Moreau on second down from the New England 6-yard line that asked him to follow his blockers into the end zone. That’s exactly the sort of innovation and creative use of personnel that’s been missing through the first four weeks of the season.

And the players took notice. Alvin Kamara praised Carmichael after the game, saying that “Pete was good today. It was good to see Pete out there having fun. It was like he took a deep breath and just exhaled.”

Will Carmichael keep it up in the months ahead? Let’s hope so. This was easily the most entertaining game of the Saints’ season so far, and results like this would go a long way towards quieting the discontent about his position on staff. He can’t keep running Sean Payton’s playbook for Drew Brees without Payton or Brees. Whether it’s done by choice or kicking and screaming, the Saints offense must be dragged into the modern era. They have too many talented personnel to settle for less. Sunday’s performance was a big step in the right direction.

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Saints ramping up their use of motion in first preseason game

Derek Carr’s version of the Saints offense used twice as much motion as fans saw from New Orleans a year ago in their first preseason game:

This is a welcome development: NewOrleans.Football’s Brooke Kirchhofer shared a fascinating nugget from Sunday’s preseason game with the Kansas City Chiefs, pointing out that the New Orleans Saints offense used motion on 25.4% of their plays midway through the third quarter.

For context, that’s almost twice as often as they used motion last season. ESPN Stats and Info found the Saints used motion on just 12.8% of their offensive snaps in 2022, which ranked 23rd around the league; the 25.4% figure from Kirchhofer would have ranked 7th-most.

That’s quite a reversal, but it’s a big part of the Saints offense with Derek Carr under center. Getting his receivers in motion before the snap helps disguise the offense’s intentions and gives guys a running start, and it paid off with the first-half offense racking up 220-plus yards of offense against Kansas City.

Some of the best offenses around the league lean hard on motion; units like the Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, and San Francisco 49ers ranked high both in points scored and motion. We’ll see if that trend continues further into the preseason and the regular season when game results begin to matter most.

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Pre-snap motion can be a key element of Packers offense with Jordan Love

Expect a lot more pre-snap motion from the Matt LaFleur’s Packers offense with Jordan Love at quarterback in 2023.

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Pre-snap motion is an important element of the Matt LaFleur offense and something we should anticipate seeing more of with Jordan Love at quarterback in 2023.

According to Sports Info Solutions, Kansas City, Miami, and San Francisco had the most dropbacks in 2022 where pre-snap motion was utilized. Perhaps not coincidentally, these three teams were also the best against disguised defensive coverages by EPA (expected points added).

So what does this have to do with the 2023 Green Bay Packers? Well, during an interview with Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic for the Playcallers podcast, Rodrigue noted that the three offenses that LaFleur was studying on his screen during her visit were Kansas City, Miami, and San Francisco.

Using pre-snap motion can do wonders for an offense, helping to create that illusion of complexity we’ve often heard LaFleur speak about, which in short, keeps defenses off-balanced and guessing by running a variety of plays from the same personnel packages and looks.

Putting a man in motion can change the defense’s responsibilities at the last second, creating potential mismatches for the offense, and stress the defense laterally. At the snap, this can give the offense a numbers advantage to one side of the field, and cause hesitation from the defense, as they are forced to make adjustments on the fly and decipher who has the ball, whether that be the quarterback or the motion man. In the NFL, that split-second of hesitation is all it takes to open up a running or passing lane. This, in turn, can help take some of the playmaking burden off Love’s shoulders by creating relatively easier throws and opening up opportunities for others within the offense.

The data referenced above shows a connection between using motion and finding success against defenses who disguise their coverages with late movement. Of particular interest to the Packers is the success Brock Purdy and Tua Tagovailoa had, neither of whom are near Patrick Mahomes’ level of play, and also come from similar offenses that LaFleur runs. As a first-time starting quarterback this season, Love will likely see a lot of this as opponents try to confuse him with different looks, but a heavy usage of pre-snap motion could be one way to simply things for him, as it disarms the defense, to a degree, and allows the offense to dictate with last second movement.

Although the Packers’ offense this year may be inexperienced at the skill position group, what they do have to compliment their usage of motion is speed. Returning is Christian Watson, who ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash. Green Bay also added Jayden Reed, who they clocked at 4.37-seconds during the pre-draft process, and Luke Musgrave, who recorded the fastest 10-yard split in what was a very athletic tight end class. Romeo Doubs also has the ability to run a wide variety of routes, while Tucker Kraft was very good after the catch in college.

The obvious benefit of having this speed element in the offense is the big play potential that each of these players has. But it also creates better spacing by spreading out the defense, creating more one-on-ones and catch and run opportunities, along with matchup problems and can magnify everything else already mentioned when these players are moved around pre-snap.

Aaron Rodgers made it clear that he was never a big fan of motion, although the Packers still used it at a pretty good clip in 2022 at 61% of the time. As he explained last summer, the change of tempo, late movement, and complicating pass protection calls were apart of his frustration.

Studying the film of other offenses is not an uncommon practice for LaFleur, or really any coach in the NFL. I imagine he’s looked at plenty of other teams during this offseason. Given the importance of motion in his offense and the help it can provide a young quarterback, seeing how it was utilized by other teams and the trickle down effect to the rest of the offense can be extremely valuable.

Filling gadget role on offense should be on Packers’ radar during 2023 draft

Using more motion with an explosive jet motion player could help make life easier on Jordan Love. Can the Packers find one in the draft?

One specific element that the Green Bay Packers should be looking to add to their offense during the 2023 NFL Draft is someone who can be utilized as the motion-man or gadget-type player.

Although this isn’t always a major role within the offense, it is an important element for Matt LaFleur’s system. In the past, we’ve seen the Packers try to fill it by signing players like Tyler Ervin and Tavon Austin, but for the most part, it’s a role that has either gone underutilized or filled by a variety of players on the roster.

What this gadget player can do is help LaFleur achieve his desired “illusion of complexity” element. In short, this means running like plays from a variety of formations or plays that initially look similar but have a variation and end differently. This helps keep the defense off-balance and guessing.

Putting a man in motion can help create mismatches for the offense. When players are moving around pre-snap, it can change the responsibilities for certain defensive players and forces them to make adjustments on the fly. When the ball is snapped, and the defense is trying to decipher who has the ball — the motion man or the quarterback — that can lead to a split-second of hesitation, which is all that is needed to open up passing lanes or allow the blockers to better position themselves in the run game.

The trickle-down effect of all of this is that motion should help make things easier on Jordan Love at times with the effect that a gadget player can have on opposing defenses. Not to mention that is also another opportunity to generate big plays with jet sweeps, end arounds, and quick screens when there is a dynamic player filling this role.

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Christian Watson, with all his speed, could fill this role, and we saw him do so at times last season. However, every time Watson is being utilized in this capacity, that also means he’s not lined up at receiver and running routes, where he is most valuable. Keisean Nixon, with his playmaking ability, is another candidate, and LaFleur discussed the possibility of this at the NFL Owners’ Meetings. But the caveat that LaFleur added is that Nixon has to first handle his return and nickel cornerback duties before taking on an additional workload on offense. Running back Tyler Goodson will have a shot at the 53-man roster, but he’s never played in a regular season game.

Not to say that these two can’t still fill this role from time to time, but there is value in having a specific player handle these responsibilities. Having that gadget player means Watson can be better utilized on offense as a true wide receiver, and it’s fewer snaps for Nixon each week after he is already playing both defense and special teams. Bo Melton with his 4.34-speed is another option already on the team who could take these snaps.

As far as who else could fill this role for Green Bay, Brennen Rupp of Packers Wire provided a few suggestions from the upcoming draft:

Deuce Vaughn, RB, Kansas State
Devon Achance, RB, Texas A&M
Tre Tucker, WR, Cincinnati
Derius Davis, WR, TCU
Kazmeir Allen, WR, UCLA
Malik Flowers, WR, Montana
Keaton Mitchell, RB, ECU

With Love under center, my guess is that we see more motion in 2023 from the Packers, with a gadget-type player taking on a more prominent role within the offense than in previous years. If so, it’s going to be important that Green Bay finds someone to take these snaps, whether that be Melton or a rookie. 

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Aaron Rodgers explains why he doesn’t always love motion on offense

Does Aaron Rodgers hate motion in the Packers offense? No. But he doesn’t love it all the time. Here’s why.

During an interview that often felt more like an episode of “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis,” Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers did eventually get a chance to talk a little football with the boys at “Pardon My Take.”

Late in the interview, the NFL MVP dove into why he doesn’t always love the motion involved in Matt LaFleur’s scheme. The frustrations revolve around alternating tempos and some of the pass protection complications that go into running all the motion looks in the current Packers offense.

“When you have so much motion, it’s hard to get tempo going. You always have to make sure you’re set, and you have a motion, or a double motion, or a jet off of it,” Rodgers said.

Motion is used in so many NFL offenses now because it puts considerable lateral stress on the defense during the pivotal moments right before the snap. It can allow offenses to get a numbers advantage at the point of attack or on the edges or provide better blocking angles in the run game by manipulating defenders. It’s a staple component of the Shanahan/McVay/LaFleur offenses.

Rodgers, who admitted he sometimes “gets after” LaFleur for running too much motion, said he likes “to switch the tempo” at times. Motion takes time,  so pushing the tempo and going fast really isn’t always an option.

Rodgers said he used to “marvel at Peyton Manning” who ran a static offense in simple two-by-two (two receivers, two tight ends) and three-by-one (three receivers, one tight end) formations. The static pre-snap look gave Manning a clear picture of the defense and allowed him to use his “cadence variation” to get the defense to show their hand early.

Rodgers still calls the West Coast offense the “most beautiful offense ever created.” He grew up in the system early in his career under Mike McCarthy.

Motion can sometimes complicate what is engrained in Rodgers’ mind in terms of setting pass protections and alignments pre-snap.

But don’t get it twisted: Rodgers still very much appreciates the schematic advantages of the current scheme.

“In this offense, it does put a lot of stress on the defense,” Rodgers said. “You have a motion, you have an outside zone look, you have a guy sealing backside. Off that, we have a run, we have a screen, we have a keeper, we have an action pass, we have so different looks off the same stuff. That’s why it works.”

Rodgers has won back-to-back MVPs in LaFleur’s offense. Motion works.

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