11/15/2007
'Big Five' Adds Offensive Wrinkle
Just prior to receiver Koren Robinson's reinstatement from a year-long suspension, quarterback Brett Favre talked about how Robinson could add another dimension to the Packers' passing game. Last Sunday, the offense revealed that extra dimension. Called "Big Five," a five-wide receiver alignment was used for the first time this season, featuring Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones, Ruvell Martin and Robinson all split out (three on one side, two on the other) with an empty backfield and Favre in the shotgun. It's a formation the Packers employed only a handful of times, but with the Minnesota Vikings missing their top cover corner in Antoine Winfield with an injury, "Big Five" forced the defense to dig deep into a depleted secondary to account for all the downfield threats. "That's like a college-type formation," Martin said. "To get into that, we're just out there having a blast." [More]
Conductor of electricity
McCarthy orchestrates tactics
for each opponent
There was the short passing game rife with slant passes. Then the bomb made a few memorable appearances. Last week, they ran the ball against a Minnesota Vikings team that you're not supposed to run against and trotted out a five-wide receiver set for good measure. In between they've used every formation imaginable - yes, even an inverted wishbone - and a dizzying array of personnel groupings. Seemingly every week, the Green Bay Packers' offense features a new wrinkle in the game plan. For the league's fourth-ranked unit, the results have obviously been positive. For opposing defenses, however, preparing for the Packers has become increasingly difficult. "They are definitely well thought out," Carolina Panthers coach John Fox said Wednesday. "They have concepts and they utilize a lot of different people doing it. Part of the West Coast philosophy is doing it with different personnel groups and playing it very fast, keeping you off-balance. They're doing that at a high level." [More]
Published by PackerPundit On Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 5:42 AM.
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