Offense
1. Mix up 21, 22, 11, 12 and 13 personnel: Varying formations and personnel groupings will prevent Green Bay’s front from locking into our tendencies. By cycling through heavier sets like 21, 22, and 13 personnel alongside spread 11 and 12 looks, the Patriots can force Jonathan Gannon’s defense to constantly adjust their sub-packages, creating favorable run fits and mismatch opportunities for tight ends and running backs in space.
2. 3-Step and Quick 5- Step concepts: To mitigate the pass rush of Lukas Van Ness and Dani Denis-Sutton, Drake Maye needs clean, fast answers in the passing game. Utilizing rhythmic 3-step and quick 5-step drops gets the ball out of Maye’s hands immediately, neutralizing simulated pressures and letting playmakers pick up yards after the catch before the zone coverages can collapse.
3. Run off-tackle: Outside Zone, Toss, Crack Toss, Pin & Pull: Establishing the ground game is paramount against a split-safety shell. Running wide with Outside Zone, Toss, Crack Toss, and Pin & Pull schemes leverages our athletic offensive line to stretch the Packers’ front horizontally, forcing the linebackers to flow sideline-to-sideline and opening cutback lanes for Rhamondre Stevenson. It also forces their active safeties to have to defend the run.
4. 2-Back Play-Action: Two-back backfield alignments naturally draw the eyes of second-level defenders toward the line of scrimmage. Executing heavy play-action off these looks creates deep intermediate windows behind the linebackers, allowing Maye to exploit seams downfield while keeping the pass rush honest.
5. Naked Boot Legs away from pressure: Rolling Maye away from designed run action on naked bootlegs neutralizes heavy edge pressure and simplifies his post-snap reads. This movement horizontally shifts the pocket, forcing disciplined pursuit from Green Bay’s edge defenders and giving Maye the choice to pick up easy yardage on the ground or find an open receiver in the flat.
Defense
1. Play more man and match up man: Putting defenders in man and match-man coverage challenges Jordan Love to beat tight windows consistently. Trusting the secondary to lock down their assignments across the board disrupts timing routes and prevents quick, easy completions underneath. As good as Christian Watson has been, most of his production has been versus zone coverage. Let’s see how he does against more man to man this week.
2. Show sim and bluff pressure to confuse Love: Disguising coverages and rolling out simulated and bluff pressures will force Love to hold the ball a tick longer than anticipated post-snap. Presenting one pre-snap picture before rotating into varied zone-pressure looks creates hesitation and leads to hurried decisions.
3. Get Gonzalez on the boundary in man coverage against Watson: Christian Gonzalez matches up athletically to handle Christian Watson on the outside. Assigning Gonzalez to match up on Watson in the boundary in man coverage neutralizes Green Bay’s primary deep threat and allows our safeties to provide help elsewhere.
4. Play more Cover 1 Man and Cover 5 (2-Man): Deploying Cover 1 Man gives us an extra defender patrolling the intermediate zones while locking down receivers, whereas Cover 5 provides two deep safeties to cap any vertical routes. This combination takes away explosive plays and forces the Packers to execute methodical drives. It also allows the Patriots blitz more and attack a struggling offensive line.
5. Run a variety of T-E stunts and bring the extra blitzer to confuse Love: Down to down pressure paired with interior T-E stunts will test Green Bay’s protection scheme. Mixing up blitz angles and looping our defensive linemen creates interior pressure, disrupting the pocket and forcing Love off his preferred launch point. The Patriots could do more pressure wise this week out of a 5-Man box because Green Bay cannot run the ball.
Final Thoughts: Execution in situational football and winning the line of scrimmage will decide this contest. If the Patriots protect the football, establish the run early, and keeps Jordan Love uncomfortable with varied pressures, the Patriots will walk away with a hard-fought victory at home.