THE
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Published by the Impeccables since 1975
Race tightens up down the stretch
Casey Buboltz has enjoyed an overall lead almost the entire season. However, for the first time since Week 4, he is now joined by Jack Simmons at the top of the field. Jack has put together a string of solid weeks (5 out of his last 6 weeks have been double digit correct picks). Casey's lead in the Impeccables division is still a healthy 5 picks over Nick, while Jack leads the Juniors division by 6 over Noelle Vanderhoof.
In our Hall of Famers group, Steve Simmons continues to set the pace, although now he is stalked by wife Kim (1 pick behind) as Hoofer has fallen 4 picks off the pace. In the ever competitive Packer Nation division, Sadie continues her lead as she's in front of Tracy Buboltz by 1 pick. Amy Wilma and Coach Keller are 3 behind.
While there is still time left for everyone to make a move, it may be time for those who are trailing to start taking some "flyers" to help make up some ground.
This Week's Newsletter
In this week's edition, we make a trip to The Vault not once, but twice! One of our articles empathizes with the plight of kickers in the 1978 NFL, while other topics include Augsberger, tailgating, and more player highlights (including one from Aunt Marvis).
We also continue our Coaches Corner series, where this week Coach Vanderhoof analyzes "The Anatomy of a Touchdown" and explores the concept of using motion to gain an advantage.
As always, be sure to check out the Buboltz Sports Roundup as we kick off our winter coverage. Expect a heavy dose of basketball (we don't have very many wrestlers in the family) with some dance, gymnastics, and maybe a few surprises thrown in.
Heard in the Crowd
While the Green and Gold are struggling through a rough season, it still is fun to beat the Bears isn't it?
Sunday's win vs the Bears might not save their season, but it WAS notable. Entering Sunday's game, Green Bay was tied with Chicago for the all-time win record. Chicago held the record every year consecutively since 1921.
Christian Watson may have been slowed down by injuries to start the season, but if the last 4 weeks are any indication the Packers have identified their new #1 wide receiver. Over that time, Watson has caught 15 passes for 313 yards and 7 TDS (plus another 49 yards and 1 TD rushing).
When Joe Barry inevitably gets fired, is there anyone BESIDES Jim Leonhard that Packer fans want as defensive coordinator?
AJ Dillon's logic is impeccable. When asked why he's performed better the past few weeks he said "I already had the bald strength, now the dad strength is setting in." (Dillon's wife is due with their first child next spring).
Anatomy of a Touchdown - Week 13
Packers’ Use of Motion Leads to Easy TD for Watson
In today’s NFL, offensive schemes have evolved to be extremely complex. This is a relatively new trend, however. Smart Football’s Chris B. Brown wrote back in 2009 that offenses in the NFL were, “surprisingly bland and homogenized,” and “80 percent of what NFL teams do on offense … is extremely straightforward to the point where every team runs the same stuff.” Former WR Donte Stallworth estimated that about half the teams in the NFL ran the same offense, while the other half just made minor tweaks to set their offenses apart.
One major aspect of the evolution of offensive schemes is the use of pre-snap motion. Pre-snap motion is not a new concept; in fact, Tom Landry was using it already back in the 60s and 70s. Its usage, however, has increased considerably in recent years. There are no readily available statistics available on how often teams have used pre-snap motion going back more than a few seasons, but the avid football fan certainly has seen the increase. In the 2019 season, the San Francisco 49ers used pre-snap motion on 75.7% of their plays, highest in the league. Let’s take a look at how the Packers used this offensive tactic to their advantage against the Bears.
The Packers, as all teams do, use motion for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, it is simply to try and force the defense to reveal their coverage scheme. More commonly, players shift or go in motion to improve their blocking angle or to bring an additional lead blocker, like we see here with Josiah Deguara against the Eagles. He did the same on Aaron Jones TD run that was called back due to a ‘questionable’ holding penalty in the first half. The Packers like to use this motion quite frequently, especially with the TEs.
Another way the Packers use motion is to give the primary target a running start, often out of the backfield. On this next play, Dillon motions to the flat and since the Eagles are in zone coverage, no one reacts to the motion right away. This allows Dillon to have a full head of steam when he catches the ball, which makes him extremely hard to bring down.
The Packers have used Christian Watson in jet motion primarily as a decoy (although he does now have 5 carries on the season) to draw eyes away from the real play. Against the Bears, Green Bay used Watson as a decoy five times. On the first, Jones took a handoff outside for a seven yard gain.
As you can see, the motion causes the Bears’ middle linebackers to shift a little with the motion. This gives right guard Jon Runyan, Jr. just enough of an angle to cut off the LBs pursuit of Jones.
The second jet motion look resulted in a run for minimal gain. The third time paid off for GB. As Watson runs in motion, the CB who is lined up in man coverage runs with him. The fake on the jet sweep also freezes the backside MLB. It also causes LB Jack Sanborn to bounce read in order to determine where the play is going. This slows him down again just enough to allow center Josh Myers to reach him. He doesn’t make a great block, but it does the job and Dillon is able to get into the end zone.
The Packers used the same jet motion action on two more plays, one which resulted in another 7 yard run for Jones and the other resulted in no gain. The payoff, however, came in the 4th quarter with the Packers looking to put the game away. The 6th and final time Watson ran in jet motion, Rodgers handed the ball to him, and we all know how that worked out.
The play call was timed perfectly for two reasons. One, because GB ran that same jet motion action so many times, the Bears defense was conditioned to ignore it. Second, the Bears were playing man-to-man coverage in the secondary. You see this when the slot corner runs with Watson on the motion. This is important because on the top of the screen, Sammy Watkins runs a slant, which looks suspiciously like an RPO, meaning Rodgers could pull the ball and throw the slant rather than hand it off. This forces the corner to run with him. In actuality, however, Watkins is running a crack block, with his target being the slot corner chasing Watson on the motion.
The linebackers and safeties flow with the fake to Dillon, which Rodgers, Dillon, and the O-line all sell really well. As you see from the end zone camera angle, the only player on the defense who even knows Watson has the ball is the slot corner, but Watkins puts an effective block on him. #31 (CB) looks particularly clueless. My favorite part of the play might be Watkins raising his hand when Watson is at the 38 yard line. Because Watson’s elite speed erases pursuit angles, Watkins already knows at that point it is a touchdown.
For your viewing pleasure, I will close out the article with a timelapse graphic showing the Packers are now the all-time winningest franchise in NFL history! Go Pack Go!
