Taking a closer look at Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s career day

The Green Bay Packers put forth a flat effort in their Week 10 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, one player surprised everyone with probably the best game of his career. On four receptions, wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling produced a career-high 149 receiving yards. He even topped it off with a 78-yard touchdown using his 4.3 speed the team drafted him for.

Here’s what Valdes-Scantling’s day looked like from a film perspective:

On the play before the long touchdown, Valdes-Scantling saw that he got behind Jacksonville corner Sidney Jones. The Jaguars were in man to man, and Valdes-Scantling runs by Jones with an outside release.

“I had run a go route on that previous play and saw that I could get behind him (Sidney Jones),” he said. “He wasn’t really respecting the deep (ball), and so I went back to the huddle and told Aaron that I can get by him.”

“The next play, we went out and threw a go ball.”

Here is the touchdown. Even when Jones is respecting Valdes-Scanting’s speed, it doesn’t matter. Jones is playing five yards off the wide receiver. Valdes-Scantling gets a free release, but this time there is no safety over the top.

It’s worth noting that Jones isn’t slow either. He was officially timed at a 4.47 at the 2017 NFL Combine. However, Aaron Rodgers drops this one in the bucket, and his receiver takes care of the rest. If the Packers can continue to set up this one-on-one look with no safety help, Valdes-Scantling is going to beat a lot of corners.

Valdes-Scantling showed up on third down as well. Rodgers’ first read isn’t there, so he is forced to step up and flush out to the right. The Jaguars are playing zone, and they begin to roll their coverage to follow the quarterback.

Meanwhile, Valdes-Scantling is running an over. He recognizes that they are in zone, so he cuts off his route and turns his head just as Rodgers begins to roll out. Valdes-Scantling then does a nice job improvising on a broken play. Instead of following Rodgers to the sideline, he works back toward the middle of the field. He finds a soft spot in the zone, and Rodgers hits him right on cue. This sort of thing takes time for young wide receivers to learn, and he does it perfectly here. It is encouraging to see Valdes-Scantling on the same page as his quarterback in Year 3.

He isn’t known for his run-blocking, but this was a nice rep from Valdes-Scantling. On this play, he was asked to stalk block corner Tre Herndon. He gets good hand placement on Herndon and is able to drive him a few yards upfield.

Next to go routes, crossers might be Valdes-Scantling’s best route. In one on ones, he is able to use straight-line speed to separate. Green Bay catches the Jacksonville defense in a good look here. It looks like they are playing off man, so the guy covering Valdes-Scantling has a lot of ground to make up when he notices him in-breaking. With Valdes-Scantling’s speed, this play was over almost as soon as it started.

Valdes-Scantling went out with a bang for his final catch. No one is covering him in the slot, so Rodgers hits him with a quick screen. It’s not the route that we are paying attention to here. Valdes-Scantling isn’t known for being a tough runner, but here he finishes with good play strength and mental toughness.

Whatever your opinion is of Valdes-Scantling, he had a good showing against the Jaguars. He has put together some good performances in 2020, but it’s up to him to not disappear for games at a time like he has during his first two seasons. If he can avoid dropped passes and keep using his speed to his advantage while making plays after that catch, the Packers will have another solid weapon at wide receiver.

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Good, bad and ugly from Packers' 24-20 win over Jaguars