Through the first 7 weeks of the season, no quarterback has completed more passes off of play-action than Jared Goff. He’s been virtually flawless whenever it’s been called, completing 68.4% of his play-action passes for 9.7 yards per attempt, with 3 TDs, 0 INTs, and a 112.1 passer rating.
Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing has done a great job of finding a variety of ways to attack the defense with his play-action design all season. We saw that in Week 7 against the Packers, as Detroit’s first 3 play-action passes were completed for 80 yards and a touchdown.
This first play was a 3-level stretch in the middle of the field: A post from the right, an over-route and a dig from the left, and then tight end Sam LaPorta sneaking through the line out of the backfield:
The post knocked the top off the coverage, but LaPorta’s route was key. It ate up the linebacker in the middle of the field, which created a huge window for the over-route behind him:
The result was a 24-yard gain:
I love this next play-action design.
First, watch the motion by Jameson Williams as well as Jared Goff pointing into the secondary. That’s something you might see quarterbacks do on certain run plays, like Duo, where the QB will motion his receiver inside so he can block any safety coming down into the box:
I don’t know if that’s exactly what made the Packers lose track of Williams. But it likely played some kind of role in Green Bay failing to account for him as he crossed underneath the formation.