Packers, Week 2 — What Repeats: Play-Action Nearly Vanished

Jordan Love dropped back 32 times against the Jets, and one of those dropbacks was play-action. One. That is three percent, the lowest play-action rate of the 32 offenses this week, with the league median at 24 and a half and San Francisco faking the handoff on more than half of its dropbacks. Across all of last season this offense ran play-action on a hundred 41 of 554 dropbacks, 25 and a half percent, and Love turned his hundred and two play-action throws into 868 yards. Against New York his one play-action throw fell incomplete. His other 28 produced 16 completions for a hundred 45 yards, which is the entire passing line.

It matters because of what the Jets put in front of the run. New York showed six or fewer defenders in the box on 14 of Green Bay's 18 charted designed runs, 78 percent, second-highest of the 32 offenses this week, behind only New Orleans. Last week Minnesota did it on 20 of 21, the highest in the league. Across all of last season this offense saw a light box on 62 percent of its designed runs. Two opponents, two light-box rates near the top of the league: that is one of the charting figures that has moved the same way in both games. And the run game has not made it cost anything. The 18 designed runs gained 63 yards, three and a half a carry, tied with Miami for twentieth of 32 this week. Last week it was 3.1, thirtieth. Last season it was a little over four. A light box means fewer defenders near the line and more space behind them, which is the situation play-action is built for, and this week Green Bay used it once.

The rest of the menu moved the other way. Motion came on 42 of 75 charted plays, 56 percent, seventh-highest of the 32 offenses this week, against 44 percent last season and 42 and a half percent last week. Screens came on four of 32 dropbacks, 12 and a half percent, ninth-highest, against seven percent last season and one screen on 46 dropbacks last week. Five run-pass options on 50 snaps, 10 percent, back to last season's rate after just one in last week's game. So alongside the light boxes this week came more motion, more screens and almost no fake handoffs.

The throws themselves came back. 23 of Love's 29 throws were charted catchable, 79 percent, eighth of 32 this week and above his own 72 percent from last season. Last week it was 21 of 42, dead last. That is a climb from 30-second to eighth. What went the wrong way was traffic and hands. 10 of the 29 throws were contested, a receiver and a defender arriving together: 34 and a half percent, second-highest in the league this week behind Jacksonville, and more than double the 14 percent Love threw into across all of last season and the 14 percent of last week. And the receivers dropped three of the 23 catchable balls, 13 percent, tied with Chicago for the third-highest drop rate this week. Last season this offense dropped 20 of 360, under six percent, and last week it dropped none. One throw was charted interception-worthy, a ball a defender should have caught, which is tied with Las Vegas for ninth-highest this week; nobody caught it. Zero throwaways, from a quarterback who had 28 last season.

The rush was not the story this time, and that is a reversal too. The Jets sent five or more pass rushers on nine of Love's 32 dropbacks, 28 percent, tied with Las Vegas for eighteenth of 32, a shade under the 31 percent this offense saw last season and nowhere near the 80 percent Minnesota sent last week. Green Bay's quarterback was out of the pocket on two of the offense's 32 dropbacks, six percent, tied with Las Vegas for 20-eighth of the 32 teams this week. But two of the three sacks the Recap counted were charted as the quarterback's own fault. Across all of last season he had five of those on 485 dropbacks; last week he had none.

On defense, the figure that stands out is what the Jets' designed runs got: 50 yards on 23 of them, 2.2 a carry, the third-fewest allowed by any of the 32 defenses this week. Last season opponents' designed runs gained 1832 yards on 444 against this defense, a little over four a carry, and last week Minnesota's got 3.6. It did not take a crowded box. Green Bay showed six or fewer defenders on 10 of the 23, 44 percent, seventeenth this week, a lighter-box share below last season's 50. The pass rush sent five or more on 13 of New York's 48 dropbacks, 27 percent, twentieth this week. That is above last season's 21 percent for the second week running, but well down from the 47 percent it sent last week. Geno Smith's throws were catchable on 32 of 41, 78 percent, ninth-highest this week, while 11 were contested, 27 percent, fifth-highest, against 19 percent for this defense's opponents last season. His eight play-action throws produced seven completions for 61 yards. None of the four sacks the Recap counted was charted as his fault.

The stat lines have settled, so here they are, scored half-PPR. Love, 13.8 on 16 of 29 for a hundred 45 yards and two touchdowns. Christian Watson led the pass catchers with 12.1, four catches on 11 targets for 41 yards and a touchdown. Matthew Golden caught four of six for 58, 7.8. MarShawn Lloyd had six carries for 22 catches for six yards, one of them a touchdown, 7.6, and Kaleb Johnson eight carries for 32. For New York, Smith scored 15.6, the most on the field, on 27 of 41 for 247 and a touchdown. Garrett Wilson caught five of seven for 57 and a score, 14.2. Breece Hall ran 16 times for 29 and caught five for 63, and Adonai Mitchell caught six of 12 targets for 63.

A note on the comparisons, because the name of this show asks a question two games cannot answer. Every "last season" above is all of 2025, a roster that has changed and a year that has passed. Set against that, a figure can tell you something is unusual; it cannot yet tell you something is true. Last week is one game, and it is only ever last week here. The version of this show that measures the Packers against their own recent weeks begins around Week 4, and until then we will name the comparison each time.

For anyone new: last season the Packers went nine, seven and one on a passing game near the top of the league and the second-best third-down offense. This season they lost 39 to 22 at Minnesota and won 20 to 17 in overtime at New York. Here is what repeated. Light boxes, both weeks, near the top of the league, and a run game that gained less than it did a year ago against them both times. Play-action, down both weeks, and nearly gone this one. Here is what reversed: the catchable rate, last to eighth; the five-or-more rush, from 80 percent to 28; screens and motion, up after a quiet opener. And the defense has sent five or more more often than last season in both games. Two games settle none of it. Against Atlanta next, when the box is light, count the fake handoffs.

That's your Packers — every game, by the numbers. This is Muffed: we do the same deep dive for all 32 teams. Follow the Packers show wherever you're listening, so next week's recap lands the moment it's out. No theater. Just the football.

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_Data via nflverse. Charting: FTN Data via nflverse._