Anatomy of a game-clinching TD: Aaron Rodgers to Allen Lazard

The Green Bay Packers had been setting up the knockout blow all game.

With the same calls in the inside zone run game working consistently, and offense’s best blocking receiver executing the same blocking assignment on nearly every run play, the Packers felt they had successfully lulled the Los Angeles Rams’ No. 1 defense to sleep.

The eventual knockout blow just took two swings.

Roughly a quarter after Allen Lazard dropped what could have been a long touchdown off a play-action pass, Packers coach Matt LaFleur went back to the same concept at exactly the right time. The 58-yard touchdown from Aaron Rodgers to Allen Lazard gave the Packers a 14-point lead midway through the fourth quarter and helped clinched a spot in the NFC Championship Game.

Rodgers said the Packers were running repeated inside zone run calls all game. LaFleur confirmed the Packers thought all along that they’d eventually get a chance at a deep shot from the same look. When the play was called again, Rodgers’ first thought was touchdown.

“We were running the same play over and over from that same formation and we felt like we were going to have a chance at a play-action pass off of it,” LaFleur said.

The first opportunity ended in a drop. Rodgers sold the run fake, Lazard feigned a block before cutting quickly outside and then down the field, and Rodgers found him over the top for what could have been a 60-yard touchdown. The ball clanked off Lazard’s hands, and the Packers eventually punted.

Rodgers was happy that LaFleur went back to the call with the Packers protecting a 25-18 lead in the fourth quarter.

“It was the same play that we ran earlier in the game, and he went outside of the guy and I threw it a little bit flat and he couldn’t bring it down. Kudos to Matt for coming back to it. Great situation,” Rodgers said.

On 2nd-and-6 from the Packers’ 42-yard line following a 4-yard run on first down, LaFleur dialed it up. Play-action pass off an inside zone run fake.

Rodgers once again sold the fake hard. Lazard faked the crack block on the safety before exploding up the field. When cornerback Troy Hill and safety Jordan Fuller both took the cheese, Lazard flashed wide open deep and the Packers had their game-clinching touchdown.

“Big-time play in a big-time moment,” LaFleur said.

LaFleur has turned the Packers into an offensive juggernaut by making different plays look identical pre- and post-snap. This was just the latest example.

It was also another example of the playcaller and quarterback being on the same page.

“We talked about repeating that call. Because it really didn’t look like what we were trying to run (the first time). The guy jumped so hard that Allen kind of went around him. So we talked about going back to it,” Rodgers said.

Lazard had been cracking down on the safety all game. Deemed the “enforcer” of the offense by LaFleur earlier in the year, Lazard has earned a reputation for being an elite run-blocking receiver. All second-level defenders have to account for where he is in the run game or risk getting eliminated from the play. Run the crack block enough, and the muscle memory of the defenders can be manipulated against them.

When LaFleur called the play again, Rodgers was confident the Packers had the potential for a score.

“We’d been running duo or inside zone effectively most of the night, and it’s just a hard action off of that. So when the play was called I was thinking touchdown, for sure. Came off the fake, really tried to sell it, came off the fake and saw Allen digging, so I knew both guys had jumped it. I did throw it a little more inside than I wanted to, and he made a really nice catch, kept his feet, put that thing away. That was pretty special.”

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