Over the course of the season, Green Bay fared much better in 12 personnel off play-action than in 11, but that wasn’t true in the second half of the season, when the Packers found more ways to create positive plays in three receiver sets. If there’s one data point that encompasses Day 2 of the Packers draft, this is it. A.J. Dillon and Josiah Deguara’s arrival clearly aim to affect Green Bay’s ability to be effective throwing the ball from heavier personnel.

If the play-action game was solid, why do Rodgers’ numbers still lag behind his peers? First off, because everyone thrives off play-action, but second, the execution by everyone from quarterback on down came up short.

On 57 fails, 4 were throw-aways, but 18 more were off-target throws from Rodgers with another 3 coming on sacks. In essence, nearly half of the play-action failed plays lay at the feet of the quarterback. Three drops and a broken play in addition points to an execution problem. Nine plays were either defensive plays or some poor luck, like Jimmy Graham slipping to throw off the play. Those will happen in any subset of plays and as the saying goes, defenders get paid too.

This suggests the problem with the play-action game stems more from execution than design. It’s not that guys weren’t open or in position to make plays, they failed to make the plays that were there to be made.

https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2020/5/12/21250797/packers-play-action-struggles-2019-aaron-rodgers-matt-lafleur  wrote: